Link Centre Dictionary

botch

UK/bɒt͡ʃ/ US/bɑt͡ʃ/ rare archaic obsolete
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

verb

1.

make a mess of, destroy or ruin

  • “I botched the dinner and we had to eat out”
  • “the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English bocchen (“to mend”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old English bōtettan (“to improve; cure; remedy; repair”), related to boot, or from Middle Dutch botsen, butsen, boetsen (“to repair; patch”), related to beat. Doublet of bodge.

Phrases

  • botch job
  • botch up
  • foul up
  • mess up
  • screw up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.