botched

American

[bocht] / bɒtʃt /

adjective

spoiled by poor or clumsy work; bungled.

The teachers are up in arms about the botched rollout of the new standards, which caused unnecessary confusion and stress for them and their students.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of botch.

Other Word Forms

botchedly adverb

Etymology

Origin of botched

botch ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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.

What is more baffling than the botched decision-making at the time is that officials have been going through what happened behind closed doors for months.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

Despite obviously botched DHS operations in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, Noem said she had “no regrets.”

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026

Come April 15, it’s hard to hide losses from stock sales or other botched investment schemes.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 5, 2026

The Lakers lost to Orlando on Tuesday by one point on a botched play when Doncic didn’t shoot a three-pointer and instead passed the ball to James, who missed a last-second three-point attempt.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

“I can’t stand looking at botched work. Here, get out of the way.”

From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023