botch
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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botches,
present (3rd person singular)
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botched,
past participle, past
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botching
present participle
noun
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a clumsy or poor piece of work; bungle.
He made a complete botch of his first attempt at baking.
-
a clumsily added part or patch.
-
a disorderly or confused combination.
noun
-
a swelling on the skin; a boil.
-
an eruptive disease.
verb
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to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude
-
to repair badly or clumsily
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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botchsimple
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botchessimple
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have botchedperfect
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has botchedperfect
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am botchingprogressive
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are botchingprogressive
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is botchingprogressive
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have been botchingperfect progressive
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has been botchingperfect progressive
Past
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botchedsimple
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had botchedperfect
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was botchingprogressive
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were botchingprogressive
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had been botchingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing botch
Awkward Moments
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Nothing But the Truth
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The Things They Carried
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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:
McLaughlin also helped to botch ICE’s efforts to keep immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra-Ramirez locked up without bond.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
But ongoing controversy with a government-funded insulation scheme, ECO, involving botch installations, has led to the scheme not being extended.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
To not only botch this chance but also to do so without even scoring a touchdown?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2024
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
How to capture that profile in wood, preserve her grace and strength—he didn’t trust himself not to botch it.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
The infinite variables in sports can quickly make many of the bets they are holding nearly worthless, whether it is because a player is severely injured or a team botches a crucial touchdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
In China, Xinhua news agency's website ran an article with the headline: "British Navy botches test: Missile crashes into the sea with a 'thud', nuclear submarine hovering underwater".
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2024
That may make it easier to get correct answers, but also can make the stakes higher if the AI goofs and makes a user uncomfortable or botches financial data.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
In the afternoon, as camaraderie developed over botches and breakthroughs, we alternated between rolling and raising our wheat dough and, every 30 minutes, stretching and folding the sourdough, which gradually went from sticky to shapely.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
Marked with botches; full of botches; poorly done.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
Their first offensive play from scrimmage was a botched snap landing quarterback Koa Malau’ulu on the three-yard line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
However, some men have ended up in A&E with a penis turning black and skin "sloughing off" after a botched procedure.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Pirro said a botched renovation, not vandalism, was responsible for the reflecting pool’s problems—and infuriated Trump by dropping the case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
He issued a no-bid contract to a company that botched the renovation, according to staunch Trump loyalist Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
He was definitely of middle age, but whoever had done his operation had botched it.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
To its many critics, the Ministry of Defence failed to spend well what money it got, botching procurement after procurement, delivering new equipment late and over budget.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
The largest number of victims came from Iran, which accused the Saudis of botching administration of the pilgrimage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
Are they going to blow this in a way that causes SBF to later blame them for botching his case?
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2023
Evangelista only recently returned to modeling after suing Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. in 2017 for allegedly botching a cosmetic procedure that she said left her “unrecognizable” and “permanently deformed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
“I’m sorry. I’m botching this. I'm not used to really talking, just on the Net. Look, I trust you, but I’m not the only one involved. So let’s wait, okay?”
From "Among the Hidden" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
