choppy
Americanadjective
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(of the sea, a lake, etc.) forming short, irregular, broken waves.
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(of the wind) shifting or changing suddenly or irregularly; variable.
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uneven in style or quality or characterized by poorly related parts.
The book was a choppy first novel.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of choppy
Explanation
When water is choppy, it's wind-blown and rippling with waves. It's tricky for a beginner to sail in a choppy lake. Choppy usually describes what happens to the surface of a body of water during a storm. Strong wind blowing across a bay, for example, turns the water choppy and rough. Something with a jerky, abrupt way of moving or flowing is also choppy, whether it's a piece of music or a filmed scene in a movie. In the 1600s, a stormy sea was described as chopping, which had changed to choppy by about 1830.
Vocabulary lists containing choppy
Rick
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Kareem Between
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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.
But SpaceX and its fellow IPOs won’t behave like normal stocks for months, if not longer, and trading promises to be choppy and unpredictable.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
Without the star point guard, the Lakers could confidently turn to James to steer them through choppy waters.
From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2026
Active customers increase 1.4% to 21.4 million, with the CEO noting market outperformance in a choppy category.
From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026
Oil futures were choppy while Asian indexes got a short-lived chip-driven boost, as Middle East tensions simmer and investors await further news on potential U.S.-Iran talks.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
Hume took the crew up to thirty-two, as high as he dared to go in the choppy water, and as high as he needed to go.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
