scattershot

[ skat-er-shot ]

adjective

1. delivered over a wide area and at random; generalized and indiscriminate:

   a scattershot attack on the proposed program.

scattershot

/ ˈskætəˌʃɒt /

adjective

1. random; haphazard

   their approach to conservation is scattershot and unscientific

Word History and Origins

Origin of scattershot¹

First recorded in 1960–65; adj. use of scatter shot

Example Sentences

Because as scientists build out these databases with more and more genomes, from creatures both living and extinct, the number of organisms we can identify from a scattershot examination of a single sample just keeps going up.

From Popular-Science

American cookbooks really kicked off in the mid-1800s, and for their first hundred years or so, their recipe formats were scattershot, even within a single title.

From Eater

He takes our knowledge of Williams for granted, revealing crucial parts of her career in a scattershot manner.

From Washington Post

Before, I’d have to use a scattershot method, typing random scrambled letter strings into OneLook one by one and hoping something would turn up, which could take several hours.

From Washington Post

Snyder’s new zombie entree The Army of the Dead is too scattershot, perhaps too derivative and definitely too long.

From Time