botch

¹ American  

[boch] / bɒtʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to spoil by poor work; bungle (often followed byup ).

   He botched up the job thoroughly.

   Synonyms:

   flub, butcher, muff, mismanage, ruin

2. to do or say in a bungling manner.

3. to mend or patch in a clumsy manner.

---

noun

1. a clumsy or poor piece of work; bungle.

   He made a complete botch of his first attempt at baking.

2. a clumsily added part or patch.

3. a disorderly or confused combination.

botch ² American  

[boch] / bɒtʃ /

noun

1. a swelling on the skin; a boil.

2. an eruptive disease.

---

botch British  

/ bɒtʃ /

verb

1. to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude

2. to repair badly or clumsily

---

noun

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

Other Word Forms

• botcher
  noun
• botchery
  noun

Etymology

Origin of botch¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English bocchen “to patch up”; perhaps to be identified with bocchen “to swell up, bulge” (verbal derivative of bocche botch ² ), though sense development unclear

Origin of botch²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bocche, botch(e), from Old North French boche, dialectal variant of Old French, Middle French boce boss ²

Explanation

If you botch something, you make a mess of it or you ruin it. If you totally botch your lines in the school play, you stammer and stutter your way through the whole thing. Interestingly, the word botch originally meant the opposite of what it means today. The Middle English word bocchen meant to mend or repair. As a noun botch means an embarrassing mistake or something that is done poorly, especially due to lack of skill. If they've never painted before, your friends working on set design might make a complete botch of the scenery for the play, which might involve repainting the whole thing.

Example Sentences

No, Philadelphia Phillies’ reliever Orion Kerkering did not just botch a grounder and throw it away with the season on the line!

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

He’ll botch a gig over his annoyance at not being allowed to call a stranger by a pet name she reserves for her closest friend.

From Salon • Feb. 9, 2024

It was a stunning botch job from a ruthless finisher.

From BBC • Sep. 10, 2023

The botch required the rescoring of 300,000 exams, scholastic victims of the knotty coin rotation paradox.

From Scientific American • Jun. 20, 2023

“You’ve done enough to botch this affair. I bid five thousand dollars on the rest of the property, Carlson. Let’s get this thing over with.”

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

Related Words

• bobble
• bumble
• bungle
• err
• flub
• fumble
• miscalculate
• mishandle
• misjudge
• mismanage
• muff
• screw up