slapdash

English

WOTD – 4 February 2007

Etymology

From slap +‎ dash. First attested in the late 17th century, meaning "careless".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslæpdæʃ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -æʃ

Adjective

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

1. Produced or carried out hastily; haphazard; careless.
   • 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 114:

     They had seen Poland, and that was the sort of slovenly, slapdash place they were used to, but once across the German frontier they found everything—crops, roads, buildings—uncannily different.

   • 2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     When you're in the front entrance, get a feel for what's going on. Tours are never timed to coincide with breaks but if there are any children milling about, see what they're up to. If they're on a dutiful errand, for example delivering registers, the school probably encourages a responsible attitude. If they're play-fighting in the corridor without consequence, it tells a less impressive story and could mean a slapdash approach to discipline.

   • 2023 May 2, Josh Taylor, Alex Hern, “‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton quits Google and warns over dangers of misinformation”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Valérie Pisano, the chief executive of Mila – the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute – said the slapdash approach to safety in AI systems would not be tolerated in any other field.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:careless

Descendants

• → Norwegian Bokmål: slabbedask
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: slabbedask

Translations

done hastily

• Bulgarian: прибързан (bg) (pribǎrzan)
• Catalan: barroer (ca) m
• Danish: forhastet
• Dutch: gehaast (nl)
• Esperanto: fuŝa
• Finnish: hutiloitu, juosten kustu
• French: bâclé (fr)
• German: schludrig, flüchtig (de), hopplahop, blindlings (de), oberflächlich (de), hudelig, schlampert, schlampig (de)
• Maori: tūpatokore, kōkau, mākūare, hakirara, hakurara, hakurara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forhastet

  Nynorsk: forhasta

• Polish: byle jaki (pl), niedbały (pl), niestaranny (pl)
• Portuguese: feito nas coxas (pt)
• Russian: поспе́шный (ru) (pospéšnyj), небре́жный (ru) (nebréžnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: šlampavo (sh) n
• Swedish: hafsig (sv), slarvig (sv)
• Turkish: üstünkörü (tr)

Adverb

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

1. In a hasty or careless manner.
2. Directly, right there; slap-bang.

   Van Eyck signed his portrait of the Arnolfinis slapdash in the center of the painting.

3. With a slap; all at once; slap.
   • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:

     And yet, slap dash, is all again
     In every sinew, nerve, and vein;
     Runs here and there, like Hamlet's ghost

Synonyms

• (in a hasty manner): carelessly, haphazardly, hastily
• (directly): directly

Translations

in a hasty or careless manner

• Bulgarian: прибързано (bg) (pribǎrzano), небрежно (bg) (nebrežno)
• Catalan: barroerament (ca)
• Danish: jasket
• Dutch: haastig (nl), nonchalant (nl)
• German: hopplahopp (de), schludrig, schlampig (de)
• Maori: tūpatokore
• Polish: byle jak (pl), niedbale (pl), niestarannie (pl)
• Russian: на́спех (ru) (náspex), как попа́ло (kak popálo), кое-ка́к (ru) (koje-kák), торопли́во (ru) (toroplívo), неря́шливо (ru) (nerjášlivo), на ско́рую ру́ку (ru) (na skóruju rúku), тяп-ля́п (ru) (tjap-ljáp)
• Serbo-Croatian: šlampavo (sh)

Verb

slapdash (third-person singular simple present slapdashes, present participle slapdashing, simple past and past participle slapdashed)

1. (colloquial) To apply, or apply something to, in a hasty, careless, or rough manner; to roughcast.

   to slapdash mortar or paint on a wall

   to slapdash a wall