haphazard
English
Etymology
From archaic hap (“chance, luck”) + hazard.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌhæpˈhæz.əd/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌhæpˈhæz.ɚd/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (AU): (file)
Adjective
haphazard (not comparable)
- Random; chaotic; incomplete; not thorough, constant, or consistent.
- Synonyms: random, chaotic
- Antonym: systematic
- 1886, N. H. Egleston, Arbor-Day, Popular Science Monthly, p. 689:
- The haphazard efforts of a few, working here and there without concert, easily spent themselves in attaining results far short of what were needed.
- 1909, Fielding H. Garrison, Josiah Willard Gibbs and his relation to modern science, Popular Science Monthly, p. 191:
- we assume a gas to be an assemblage of elastic spheres or molecules, flying in straight lines in all directions, with swift haphazard collisions and repulsions, like so many billiard balls.
- 1912, Robert DeC. Ward, The Value of Non-Instrumental Weather Observations, Popular Science Monthly, p. 129:
- There is a very considerable series of observations — non-instrumental, unsystematic, irregular, "haphazard" if you will — which any one with ordinary intelligence and with a real interest in weather conditions may undertake.
- Do not make such haphazard changes to the settings; instead, adjust the knobs carefully, a bit at a time.
Derived terms
Translations
random, chaotic, incomplete