slapdash - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

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.

done hastily

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

in a hasty or careless manner

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