Word of the Day

: February 16, 2022

slapdash

adjective SLAP-dash

What It Means

Slapdash means "haphazard," "slipshod," or "sloppy."

// Slapdash editing had an effect on the sales of the magazine.

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slapdash in Context

"I approach any recipe with a certain degree of slapdash irreverence. I make substitutions left and right, change amounts, add spices, omit steps that I deem too troublesome or leave out ingredients altogether." — Monika Spykerman, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), 1 Dec. 2021

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.