botched

American

[bocht] / bɒtʃt /

adjective

spoiled by poor or clumsy work; bungled.

The teachers are up in arms about the botched rollout of the new standards, which caused unnecessary confusion and stress for them and their students.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of botch.

Other Word Forms

botchedly adverb

Etymology

Origin of botched

botch ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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.

Four people have been arrested during a dawn raid on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud following an investigation into the government's botched home insulation scheme.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

The botched rollout drew criticism, including from prominent blogger John Gruber, who said Apple “squandered” its credibility by advertising features it couldn’t properly deliver.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 31, 2026

The ripples of the botched Watergate operation spoke to all of those arrogant enough to think they might be able to do it better.

From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026

The Lakers lost to Orlando on Tuesday by one point on a botched play when Doncic didn’t shoot a three-pointer and instead passed the ball to James, who missed a last-second three-point attempt.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

Something feels different: I hear none of the usual post-performance chatter, nothing about botched notes or particularly sublime passages.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

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