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): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Rhymes: -æʃ

Adjective

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

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
Spanish: chapucero (es)
Swedish: hafsig (sv), slarvig (sv)
Turkish: üstünkörü (tr)

Adverb

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

In a hasty or careless manner.
Directly, right there; slap-bang.
Van Eyck signed his portrait of the Arnolfinis slapdash in the center of the painting.
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)
Spanish: dicho rápido y mal

Verb

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

(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