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Synonyms

slapdash

American  
[slap-dash] / ˈslæpˌdæʃ /

adverb

  1. in a hasty, haphazard manner.

    He assembled the motor slapdash.

adjective

  1. hasty and careless; offhand.

    a slapdash answer.
slapdash British  
/ ˈslæpˌdæʃ /

adverb

  1. in a careless, hasty, or haphazard manner

"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

adjective

  1. careless, hasty, or haphazard

"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

noun

  1. slapdash activity or work

  2. another name for roughcast

"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 slapdash

1670–80; slap 1 (adv.) + dash 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.

The composition of these black-and-white street photographs seems slapdash, but the images work brilliantly.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even through a coat of grime the slapdash quality of the paintings was evident, with their stiff, awkwardly posed figures and dizzying parade of symbols.

From Literature

District Judge Mary McElroy temporarily halted the changes, calling them “slapdash” and legally questionable.

From Salon

The slapdash apology videos made Deen into a joke, one she tried to get in front of during that “Today Show” appearance, only to make matters worse.

From Salon

District Court in Boston, that had blocked the administration’s slapdash deportations while legal challenges wend through the courts.

From Los Angeles Times

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.