hodgepodge
Americannoun
noun
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a jumbled mixture
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a thick soup or stew made from meat and vegetables
Etymology
Origin of hodgepodge
First recorded in 1615–25; variant of hotchpotch
Explanation
A hodgepodge is a random assortment of things. A dorm room might be furnished with a hodgepodge of milk crates, antique mirrors, and a poster of a kitten hanging on a branch with one paw. Hodgepodge is a funny-sounding word for a somewhat funny occurrence — a grouping of things or people that don't fit together. If you made a stew with bacon, oatmeal, and chocolate cake, you’ve made a hodgepodge (and a bellyache waiting to happen). The piles of stuff stacked in attics tend to be a hodgepodge. British people call it a hotchpotch. A hodgepodge can also be called a mishmash.
Vocabulary lists containing hodgepodge
The Diary of a Young Girl
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"Perfectly Cromulent": Another Simpsons Vocabulary List
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Towers Falling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For lagniappe, Hodgepodge offers foreign words the English language could use: magari!,
From Time Magazine Archive
Hodgepodge, happily, is a literate, lifelong miscellany, illuminated with flashes of comedy and rue.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
