botch

[ boch ]

/ bɒtʃ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR botch ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to spoil by poor work; bungle (often followed by up): He botched up the job thoroughly.

to do or say in a bungling manner.

to mend or patch in a clumsy manner.

noun

a clumsy or poor piece of work; mess; bungle: He made a complete botch of his first attempt at baking.

a clumsily added part or patch.

a disorderly or confused combination; conglomeration.

Nearby words

botanize, botany, botany bay, botany wool, botargo, botch, botchy, bote, botel, botfly, both

Origin of botch

1350–1400; Middle English bocchen to patch up; perhaps to be identified with bocchen to swell up, bulge (verbal derivative of bocche botch²), though sense development unclear

SYNONYMS FOR botch

1 ruin, mismanage; muff, butcher, flub.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR botch ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

botch·ed·ly

[boch-id-lee] /ˈbɒtʃ ɪd li/, adverbbotch·er, nounbotch·er·y, noun

Definition for botch (2 of 2)

botch

[ boch ]

/ bɒtʃ /

noun

a swelling on the skin; a boil.

an eruptive disease.

Origin of botch

1350–1400; Middle English bocche < Old French boche, dialectal variant of boce boss²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for botch

He'd botch it, as he's botched everything foreign-policy related in this campaign.
Does Bibi Have the American People Hypnotized or Something?|Michael Tomasky|September 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
His pride's insupportable, and he's been rash enough to try to botch my work for me.
The Road to Damascus|August Strindberg
You will have to give me instructions, and though I may botch the business, I'll save the meat.
A Mating in the Wilds|Ottwell Binns
Nature has made a botch of him, else he would now be running on four feet, instead of two.
A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed.|William Chauncey Bartlett

Now there is just one thing that will happen if you botch this matter.
The Cottage of Delight|Will N. Harben
If it does, then its absurdities are nothing new, for we all know what a botch Ibsen made of accounting for himself.
A Book of Prefaces|H. L. Mencken

British Dictionary definitions for botch

botch

/ (bɒtʃ) /

verb (tr often foll by up)

to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude

to repair badly or clumsily

noun

Also called: botch-up a badly done piece of work or repair (esp in the phrase make a botch of (something))

Derived Forms

botcher, noun

Word Origin for botch

C14: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012