choppy
Americanadjective
-
choppier,
comparative
-
choppiest
superlative
-
(of the sea, a lake, etc.) forming short, irregular, broken waves.
-
(of the wind) shifting or changing suddenly or irregularly; variable.
-
uneven in style or quality or characterized by poorly related parts.
The book was a choppy first novel.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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
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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:
Their shorter-term outlook on stocks in September was neutral, as they fretted over potential volatility from choppy bond markets, looming midterm elections and geopolitical stress.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Wildlife experts responding to the tour’s report set out on boats to try to remove the net, but were stymied by choppy waters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Yields, which move in the opposite direction of bond prices, remained choppy into the afternoon of the U.S. trading session.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Navatek was not a profit center but a vehicle for Loui’s passion projects, like an experimental catamaran for navigating Hawaii’s choppy waters.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Looking in the mirror hanging on the outside wall of the bathhouse, I wrap it stylishly around my choppy hair, with a careful knot in the middle, the ends hanging down over my right shoulder.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
October has been choppier, and there have even been tentative signs recently of some stabilization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Bottom line, I like treating this weakness as an opportunity rather than a warning, with my expectation being for a push back to new highs before a choppier period materializes into September,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
The market action around the AI trade—plays on the global AI investment boom—got even choppier this past week.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
The water’s likely to get much choppier in the afternoon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2025
Their Spanish was choppier than my school version but I understood.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Beware of the Halloween dip, says Citadel Securities’ Scott Rubner, whose chart shows we’re in one of the choppiest months for stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2025
It's been one of choppiest offseasons in recent memory, so maybe that light at the end of winter's tunnel isn't burning so bright this year.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 2, 2020
Ken Livingstone sailed straight for the choppiest waters.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 27, 2016
Last September, the VIX hovered around levels nearly double its average, after a downgrade to the credit rating of the U.S. touched off some of the choppiest markets in years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2012
The choppiest schedule belongs to the 49ers: three 1 p.m. starts, one at 4:05, seven at 4:15, three at 8:20, two at 8:30, with appearances on all five N.F.L. networks.
From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2012
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.
