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mishmash

American  
[mish-mahsh, -mash] / ˈmɪʃˌmɑʃ, -ˌmæʃ /
Also mishmosh

noun

  1. a confused mess; hodgepodge; jumble.

mishmash British  
/ ˈmɪʃˌmæʃ /

noun

  1. a confused collection or mixture; hotchpotch

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mishmash

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At the time, the bank was a mishmash of financial firms that had been recently cobbled together.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

This was a mishmash of ideas with no clear identification marks.

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026

And on Thursday, he raised the possibility of a mixed Supreme Court decision resulting in “some kind of a mishmash of, ‘you can do this, you can’t do that.’”

From MarketWatch • Jan. 8, 2026

Both statements—the social media post and the remarks to reporters—are pure mishmash.

From Slate • Oct. 30, 2025

The next image showed a mishmash of all the items from the previous illusions.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.