at sixes and sevens

🌎Region: UK 📊Difficulty Level:intermediate

💡Meaning

In a state of confusion, disorder, or disarray; not organized or settled.

🕰️Origin

Recorded from the 1300s. It likely evolved from an older phrase “set on six and seven,” meaning to risk everything on an uncertain throw in an old dice game; later it came to mean disorder/confusion.

📝Notes

Conveys noticeable disorder/confusion, often mildly critical or sympathetic. Used for rooms, plans, organizations, or people. More common in conversation/general writing than formal reports.

💬Examples

After the sudden merger announcement, the entire department was at sixes and sevens for weeks.
My schedule was at sixes and sevens after the flight was canceled and meetings got moved around.
When the manager quit without warning, the project team was left at sixes and sevens.
The house was at sixes and sevens after the kids’ birthday party, with toys and wrapping paper everywhere.
With the new rules starting tomorrow, everyone seems a bit at sixes and sevens about what to do next.

📘Grammar & Usage Notes

Used predicatively after a form of “be”: “is/was at sixes and sevens.” Fairly fixed; usually plural “sixes and sevens” and often preceded by “at.”

🔗Synonyms

in disarray
in chaos
all over the place
in a muddle
confused

↔️Antonyms

in order
organized
sorted out
under control
settled