sketchy

[ skech-ee ]

/ ˈskɛtʃ i /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sketchy ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, sketch·i·er, sketch·i·est.

like a sketch; giving only outlines or essentials.

imperfect, incomplete, slight, or superficial: a sketchy meal.

Informal.

unreliable or unsafe: That street looks pretty sketchy.
disreputable or shady: I'd stay away from him; he's got a sketchy past.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of sketchy

First recorded in 1795–1805; sketch + -y¹

Related formssketch·i·ly, adverbsketch·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sketchy

And it is conjecture, based on the sketchy bits of evidence we possess.
Is Brooklyn Becoming Unsafe for Gays? It Depends On Which Ones|Jay Michaelson|October 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And former senior Obama adviser David Axelrod dismissed it as “sketchy.”
Rick Perry's PAC Pulls a 'Free Winona'|Olivia Nuzzi|August 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While reports are sketchy, there were likely tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces of all types in and around Mosul.
Iraq Is Vietnam 2.0 And U.S. Drones Won’t Solve The Problem|Leslie H. Gelb|June 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The image, with all of its sketchy lines and minimal color palette, had to be rendered in a matter of seconds.
O.J., Martha, Jagger, and Manson: Capturing Celebrities in the Dock|Justin Jones|May 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

While driving, listening to the first sketchy news reports, hot tears were streaming down my face.
Frazier Glenn Miller Would Kill Every Jew Like Me|Hampton Stevens|April 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She dashed into the crude and sketchy character bold strokes of Nature and illuminative gleams of genius, all her own.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 23, September, 1859|Various
Above a washstand hung a Swiss etching of the Matterhorn, a sketchy rendering.
When the Owl Cries|Paul Bartlett
He sings in a sketchy way all the year round, but in spring has a fuller unbroken song, emitted with more power and passion.
Birds in Town and Village|W. H. Hudson
I like very much the Chinese rice-papers with their broad, sketchy decorations of birds and flowers.
The House in Good Taste|Elsie de Wolfe
He adopted a sort of sketchy fashion; his figures became silhouettes and quite flat.
Pickwickian Manners and Customs|Percy Fitzgerald

British Dictionary definitions for sketchy

sketchy

/ (ˈskɛtʃɪ) /

adjective sketchier or sketchiest

characteristic of a sketch; existing only in outline

superficial or slight

informal uncertain or unreliable

Derived Formssketchily, adverbsketchiness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sketchy

sketchy

adj.

1805, "having the form or character of a sketch," from sketch (n.) + -y (1). Colloquial sense of "unsubstantial, imperfect, flimsy" is from 1878, perhaps via the notion of "unfinished." Related: Sketchily; sketchiness.