sloppy
[slop-ee]
- muddy, slushy, or very wet: The field was a sloppy mess after the rain.
- splashed or soiled with liquid.
- careless; loose: sloppy writing.
- untidy; slovenly: sloppy clothes; a sloppy eater.
- overly emotional; gushy: sloppy sentimentality.
- (of food or drink) prepared or served in an unappetizing way.
- (of clothes) loose-fitting; baggy: a big, sloppy sweater.
- (of the surface of a racetrack) wet from a recent or continuing heavy rain and containing puddles and mud still too thin and watery to be sticky.
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Origin of sloppy
Synonyms
See more synonyms for sloppy on Thesaurus.com2, 4. messy. 3. slipshod. 4. slatternly.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sloppy
Contemporary Examples
He catalogues the sloppy flow of outside money and its failures to transform the country.
I mean, it shouldn't be sloppy work; it shouldn't be bad procurement process.
Some of the stuff has been so shoddy and so sloppy that our soldiers are over there dying in the shower from electrocution.
There are two separate crises that Republicans (and sloppy liberals) are conflating for political reasons.
The Chairman, the new book about disgraced former Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer, is a sloppy, ugly mess.
Historical Examples
"That was a sloppy thing to do," he said to himself, and he flung the earth away from him.
Changing WindsSt. John G. Ervine
She told one girl her work was sloppy and made her do the flower over.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
It was a rainy, windy October night, sloppy underfoot, dripping overhead.
The Market-PlaceHarold Frederic
The writing is vigorous and there is no sloppy sentimentality.
War Letters of a Public-School BoyPaul Jones.
That was the word the sloppy copyist of yesteryear had wrongly transcribed.
G-r-r-r...!Roger Arcot
sloppy
- (esp of ground conditions, etc) wet; slushy
- informal careless; untidy
- informal mawkishly sentimental
- (of food or drink) watery and unappetizing
- splashed with slops
- (of clothes) loose; baggy
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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 sloppy
adj.
1727, "muddy," from slop (n.1) + -y (2). Meaning "loose, ill-fitting, slovenly" is first recorded 1825, influenced by slop (n.2). Related: Sloppily; sloppiness. Sloppy Joe was originally "loose-fitting sweater worn by girls" (1942); as a name for a kind of spiced hamburger, it is attested from 1961.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper