slapdash

adjective

slap·dash ˈslap-ˌdash

-ˈdash

Synonyms of slapdash next

: haphazard, slipshod

Did you know?

An early recorded use of slapdash comes from 17th-century British poet and dramatist John Dryden, who used it as an adverb in his play The Kind Keeper. "Down I put the notes slap-dash," he wrote. The Oxford English Dictionary defines this sense, in part, as "with, or as with, a slap and a dash," perhaps suggesting the notion of an action (such as painting) performed with quick, imprecise movements. The adjective slapdash is familiar today describing something done in a hasty, careless, or haphazard manner.

Examples of slapdash in a Sentence

the police department's investigation of the charges against the mayor was slapdash and not very thorough

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Was all this slapdash music generation serving in some way to devalue music in my life? Max Vehuni, one half of the indie-pop duo slenderbodies, talked me off that ledge. —

Chris Velazco, Washington Post, 5 July 2024 All that history means Delta is far from a slapdash app quickly thrown together to take advantage of Apple's new openness to emulation. —

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 18 Apr. 2024 But without state licenses, the shops were playing by their own set of rules — no testing, slapdash labeling, no taxes — which even the staunchest legalization advocates feared could choke out the nascent legal industry. —

Nicholas Fandos, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024 The internet tends to flatten all that, though; a casual user might not know the difference between a trusted source and a slapdash amateur. —

Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024 See all Example Sentences for slapdash