shoddy
- of poor quality or inferior workmanship: a shoddy bookcase.
- intentionally rude or inconsiderate; shabby: shoddy behavior.
- a fibrous material obtained by shredding unfelted rags or waste.Compare mungo.
- anything inferior, especially a handmade item or manufactured product.
Origin of shoddy
Related Words
run-downshabbyinferiorshamefulpoorgaudyplasticbasecommonmakeshiftmeanjunkybroken-downcheapcheesydilapidateddingydisgracefuldishonorabledisreputableExamples from the Web for shoddy
Contemporary Examples
Shoddy well construction is considered a primary cause of groundwater contamination at drilling sites.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News
December 9, 2014
They are vouching for Shadman, saying he is a scapegoat of a shoddy investigation.
Some of the stuff has been so shoddy and so sloppy that our soldiers are over there dying in the shower from electrocution.
Washington could take a lesson in how to handle foul plays and shoddy calls from what happens in the NHL.
The levees failed because of shoddy maintenance by a federal agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Historical Examples
Most of the novels and non-scholastic books were of a shoddy, sensational type.
Cleo The MagnificentLouis Zangwill
You can tell at a glance that it is shoddy and quite unfit for wearing.
The Common Sense of SocialismJohn Spargo
Well, if this stuff is flocks, how is shoddy made, and what does it look like?
Under FireFrank A. Munsey
Once a year there was a distribution of cheap blankets and shoddy clothing.
The Indian TodayCharles A. Eastman
When you agree to clothe the body,Expand your soul and flee from shoddy.
shoddy
- imitating something of better quality
- of poor quality; trashy
- made of shoddy material
- a yarn or fabric made from wool waste or clippings
- anything of inferior quality that is designed to simulate superior quality
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for shoddy
adj.
1862, "having a delusive appearance of high quality," a Northern word from the American Civil War in reference to the quality of government supplies for the armies, from earlier noun meaning "rag-wool, wool made of woolen waste and old rags" (1832), perhaps a Yorkshire provincial word, of uncertain origin.
Originally used for padding, English manufacturers began making coarse wearing clothes from it, and when new it looked like broad-cloth but the gloss quickly wore off, giving the stuff a bad reputation as a cheat. The 1860 U.S. census of manufactures notes import of more than 6 million pounds of it, which was "much used in the manufacture of army and navy cloths and blankets in the United States" according to an 1865 government report.
The Days of Shoddy, as the reader will readily anticipate, are the opening months of the present war, at which time the opprobrious name first came into general use as a designation for swindling and humbug of every character; and nothing more need be said to indicate the scope of this novel. [Henry Morford, "The Days of Shoddy: A Novel of the Great Rebellion in 1861," Philadelphia, 1863]
Related: Shoddily; shoddiness.