hit-or-miss

[ hit-er-mis ]
See synonyms for hit-or-miss on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. careless; inattentive; haphazard: The professor criticized the hit-or-miss quality of our research.

Origin of hit-or-miss

1
First recorded in 1600–10

Words Nearby hit-or-miss

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hit-or-miss in a sentence

  • Her occasional sketches are hit-or-miss, best when they have some sly subtext.

  • It probes around more or less hit-or-miss until it locates something, somewhere, that looks habitable.

    Circus | Alan Edward Nourse
  • We had made a wise choice, though on a hit-or-miss formula, and we were content.

    The Automobilist Abroad | M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield
  • He told his stories with a hit-or-miss air, as if accustomed to people of rapid apprehension.

    Thomas Moore | Stephen Gwynn
  • He enjoyed life and wasted no time on trivial worries, hit-or-miss, the keynote to his thought.

    Marse Henry (Vol. 2) | Henry Watterson

Other Idioms and Phrases with hit-or-miss

hit-or-miss

Haphazardly, at random. For example, She took dozens of photos, hit or miss, hoping that some would be good. [c. 1600]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.