: a heterogeneous mixture : jumble
a hodgepodge of styles
Synonyms
- agglomerate
- agglomeration
- alphabet soup
- assortment
- botch
- clutter
- collage
- crazy quilt
- farrago
- gallimaufry
- grab bag
- gumbo
- hash
- hotchpotch
- jambalaya
- jumble
- jungle
- litter
- macédoine
- medley
- mélange
- menagerie
- miscellanea
- miscellany
- mishmash
- mixed bag
- montage
- motley
- muddle
- olio
- olla podrida
- omnium-gatherum
- pastiche
- patchwork
- patchwork quilt
- potpourri
- ragbag
- ragout
- rummage
- salad
- salmagundi
- scramble
- shuffle
- smorgasbord
- stew
- tumble
- variety
- welter
Examples of hodgepodge in a Sentence
the exhibit was a hodgepodge of mediocre art, bad art, and really bad art
Recent Examples on the Web
All of this doesn’t represent merely a hodgepodge of actions.
—
Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024
For almost all groups, reaching consumers now involves a hodgepodge of channels and no single mode dominates.
—Richard Kestenbaum, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
The pictures in his yearbook reflect this hodgepodge: A senior poses with a private plane and red sports car rented by his father, while another in camouflage military dress slings a hunting rifle over his shoulders.
—Nico Lang, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2024
Editorial: Proposition 4 favors politics over sound policy with a hodgepodge of environmental programs that lack clear priorities.
—The Mercury News/east Bay Times Editorial Boards, The Mercury News, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hodgepodge 
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Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024
For almost all groups, reaching consumers now involves a hodgepodge of channels and no single mode dominates.
—Richard Kestenbaum, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
The pictures in his yearbook reflect this hodgepodge: A senior poses with a private plane and red sports car rented by his father, while another in camouflage military dress slings a hunting rifle over his shoulders.
—Nico Lang, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2024
Editorial: Proposition 4 favors politics over sound policy with a hodgepodge of environmental programs that lack clear priorities.
—The Mercury News/east Bay Times Editorial Boards, The Mercury News, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hodgepodge
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Dictionary Entries Near hodgepodge
Cite this Entry
“Hodgepodge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hodgepodge. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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Etymology
an altered form of hotchpotch, from Middle English hochepot "mixed stew," derived from early French hochepot (same meaning), from hochier "to shake" and pot "pot, container"
Word Origin
Hodgepodge and its older form hotchpotch are part of a group of words that rhyme all by themselves. Hobnob and willy-nilly are others. In the case of hodgepodge and hotchpotch, the rhyme is not an accident. These words came to English from early French in the form hochepot. The spelling was changed to make the second half of the word rhyme with the first. In French hochepot was a stew of many foods cooked together in a pot. Perhaps the pot was shaken instead of stirred since hochepot was formed from hochier, meaning "to shake," and pot, which had the same meaning in early French as it does in English now. Before long hotchpotch and hodgepodge were used not just for a mixture of foods cooking in a pot but for any mixture of different things.
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