mishmash

[ mish-mahsh, -mash ]

noun

1. a confused mess; hodgepodge; jumble.

mishmash

/ ˈmɪʃˌmæʃ /

noun

1. a confused collection or mixture; hotchpotch

Word History and Origins

Origin of mishmash¹

1425–75; late Middle English; gradational formation based on mash ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of mishmash¹

C15: reduplication of mash

Example Sentences

If “the end result is the same,” a mishmash of ideology and fatalism can ignore the foreseeable results of a Republican Party gaining control of the federal government with a 2024 platform that pledges to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

From Salon

The dreamlike mishmash of religious iconography and in-your-face motherhood imagery that Belinda witnesses in ghostly visions reads as derivative and unoriginal.

From Los Angeles Times

Both candidates were prepared with consultants’ mishmash for the obvious questions, such as why Harris had changed numerous positions since her 2019 presidential campaign and whether Walz had exaggerated some elements of his background.

From Slate

An insipid mishmash of trite genre tropes, “Borderlands” is devoid of any real edge.

From Los Angeles Times

He answered with a bizarre mishmash of words about "supplementing" with something "open and humane" and people voting on it that made no sense whatsoever.

From Salon

Related Words

• jumble
• patchwork