spot check
noun
a random sampling or quick sample investigation.
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spot check
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spot-check
spot-checkverb (used with object)to examine or investigate by means of a spot check.
spot check
1 Americannoun
spot-check
2
American
[spot-chek]
/ ˈspɒtˌtʃɛk /
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
spot check
British
noun
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a quick random examination
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a check made without prior warning
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spot check1
First recorded in 1940–45
Origin of spot-check2
First recorded in 1940–45
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:
When the special master overseeing a city court-ordered agreement to provide thousands of homeless shelter beds made a spot check at a South Los Angeles shelter she was disappointed in what she found.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
Later in 2021, an unconnected spot check revealed an item was missing and the museum began to uncover how many items had been taken or damaged.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2023
But a spot check of candy displays in multiple states __ including California, Virginia and Washington __ found no such signs.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
But without some reliance on automated methods, “You either have to spot check randomly, or you use your own human prejudice to choose what to check. And that’s not generally very fair.”
From Science Magazine ● May 9, 2023
A spot check of newspapers in Philadelphia and New York reveals a pattern quite similar.
From Old English Patent Medicines in America by Griffenhagen, George B.
In many of the countries China has targeted, governments lack the finances, the coast guard vessels or the political will to board and spot-check fishing ships and enforce the law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2024
The team used these data and diver surveys to spot-check estimates of total extent gleaned from satellite data, which can be imprecise.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 2, 2022
Those limitations make Family Setup less ideal for elder care uses, where you’d likely want to monitor for things like irregular heart rhythm or falls and have the ability to spot-check EKG readings.
From The Verge ● Oct. 16, 2020
They receive referrals from other departments and spot-check passengers’ luggage in the international arrivals terminal.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 25, 2018
But a Freedom of Information request for the BBC shows that the spot-check scheme was dropped in 2011.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2016
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.
