Link Centre Dictionary

shoddy

UK/ˈʃɒd.i/ US/ˈʃɔd.i/ uncommon dated
noun (1) adjective (2)

noun

1.

adjective

1.

cheap and shoddy

  • “cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob” Judith Crist
Synonyms
Similar
2.

of inferior workmanship and materials

  • “mean little jerry-built houses”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

* Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble; fragments”), equivalent to shoad + -y; or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building. * The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”), which was not really suitable for (but was sometimes still used for) things such as military uniforms at the beginning of the US Civil War.

Phrases

  • shoddy fever

Related words

Broader terms

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.