Your English: Collocations: flurry

A flurry is defined as ‘a short period of activity or emotion’ or ‘a small amount of something blown around’. With the former meaning, there can be a flurry of excitement or interest, as in ‘There was a brief flurry of excitement when it was thought that a lake had been discovered on Mars’ or ‘The discovery of the skeleton of Richard III has prompted a flurry of interest among those wishing to join the Richard III society’.

There can also be a flurry of activity, as in ‘The rental market tends to see a flurry of activity at this time of year, as tenants look to move before the onset of the summer holiday’.

Various types of communications can also arrive in flurries, e.g. a flurry of announcements, phone-calls, emails or letters, as in ‘The programme led to a flurry of angry phone-calls and emails from listeners offended by the sensitive nature of the subject matter’.

A flurry may be brief, initial, minor or occasional, as in ‘There was an initial flurry of interest when the property first went on the market but things have died down a bit now’ or ‘Apart from an occasional flurry of activity earlier in the week, European stock markets have remained largely flat’.

The other meaning of flurry is usually used with various types of cold weather, notably snow, sleet and snowflakes, as in ‘It was a cold January day with flurries of snow in the air’ or ‘Brief flurries of snow will affect the north-east later in the day’.