slipshod

English

WOTD – 21 August 2008

Etymology

slip + shod (“wearing shoes”), originally "wearing slippers", "slovenly" is from early 19th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪp.ʃɒd/
• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪp.ʃɑd/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -ɒd

Adjective

slipshod (comparative more slipshod, superlative most slipshod)

1. Done poorly or too quickly; slapdash.
   • 1880, Mark Twain, "The Awful German Language":

     Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp.

   • 1999 Aug. 22, Johanna McGeary, "Buried Alive," Time:

     Newspapers pointed at greedy contractors who used shoddy materials, slipshod methods and the help of corrupt officials to bypass building codes.

2. (obsolete) Wearing slippers or similarly open shoes.
   • 1840, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 67:

     [T]hey wandered up and down hardly remembering the ways untrodden by their feet so long, and crying [...] as they slunk off in their rags, and dragged their slipshod feet along the pavement.

   • 1870, Bret Harte, "From a Back Window"

     That glossy, well-brushed individual, who lets himself in with a latch-key at the front door at night, is a very different being from the slipshod wretch who growls of mornings for hot water at the door of the kitchen.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:careless

Translations

done poorly or too quickly

• Finnish: puolihuolimaton
• French: bâclé (fr)
• German: schludrig, schlampig (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: κακοφτιαγμένος (el) m (kakoftiagménos), κακότεχνος (el) m (kakótechnos)
• Maori: kōkau, mākūare, mākūware, hakirara, hakurara
• Russian: небрежный (ru) (nebrežnyj)