sketchy
Americanadjective
-
sketchier,
comparative
-
sketchiest
superlative
adjective
-
characteristic of a sketch; existing only in outline
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superficial or slight
-
informal uncertain or unreliable
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sketchy
Explanation
Something sketchy is incomplete: it includes the major points but lacks detail. If a political candidate avoids going into detail about her political views, you might say her platform is sketchy. A sketch is a quick drawing that doesn't have a lot of detail. That definition should help you remember that sketchy things are incomplete. A sketchy speech from the President will outline some important ideas but be short on specifics. A sketchy plan for the weekend would be "Let's go out to eat." That's sketchy because it has the general idea but no specifics, such as the time or place.
Vocabulary lists containing sketchy
Whirligig
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Down and Across
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The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
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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.
See Examples For:
“You have this guy with this sketchy legal past and the cherry on top is…he’s never been a developer of a data center,” said Scurries, 34, a vocal opponent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
“People will be like, ‘I don’t go to downtown anymore, it’s so sketchy now, my car got broken into last time and I feel weird letting a girl walk to a car by herself.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
One way to make this less of a sketchy move is to check in first.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
"If you're with someone who has a sketchy background, then you should be made aware of that," said Johnstone.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
From the Balcony I descended a few hundred feet down a broad, gentle snow gully without incident, but then things began to get sketchy.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Omicron’s impact is difficult to gauge in other parts of the world, where data are often sketchier.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 25, 2022
Getting there requires one of the sketchier boot-packs I’ve ever done, along an icy, knife-edge ridge where the prospect of a catastrophic fall looms large.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2021
But it is also about the narrative of a community in rapid flux: amid the upheaval, is a free apartment a glitch from the sketchier past, something to be rectified in the name of progress?
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2019
But for loved ones caught up the wake, navigating is even sketchier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2018
Naturally, Europe and its many loops were well-defined, but farther afield things got sketchier.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
He messaged Lutz about his experiences: “It was definitely the sketchiest thing I have ever had to do.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
“The majority gives only the sketchiest of reasons for reversing Teague’s watershed exception,” Kagan wrote.
From Slate ● May 17, 2021
Over two recording sessions for Columbia Records in early 1959, Davis would hand out the sketchiest of outlines for the music and leave the rest to extemporization.
From Washington Post ● May 25, 2020
My last job had been working at the juice bar of a funky, not-too-clean health food store in one of the sketchiest neighborhoods in L.A.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2012
As to principles of treatment in a disease of so varied and indefinite a character, due to such a multitude of causes, obviously nothing can be said except in the broadest and sketchiest of outline.
From Preventable Diseases by Woods Hutchinson
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.
