reckless; indiscriminate; thoughtless
Describes doing something without careful thought, often excessively or without discrimination. Can be used as a na-adjective or adverbially with に.
He spends money recklessly.
You should avoid thoughtless remarks.
やたら alone means 'excessively' or 'randomly', while めったやたら combines めった (thoughtless) and やたら for a stronger sense of reckless indiscrimination.
無茶苦茶 emphasizes absurdity or messiness, whereas めったやたら focuses on lack of discretion or restraint.
Usually written in kana. The kanji form 滅多矢鱈 is ateji and rare.
Ateji spelling; rarely used in modern writing.
Compound of めった (thoughtless, reckless) and やたら (indiscriminate, random). The kanji 滅多矢鱈 is ateji, assigned phonetically without regard to the characters' meanings.