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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

shoddy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • [ˈʃɒ.ɾi] (Canada, US)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (General-American) audio
  • /ˈʃɑ.di/ (Canada, US)
  • [ˈʃɔd.i] (UK)
  • /ˈʃɒd.i/ (UK)

Etymology

* Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble; fragments”), equivalent to shoad + -y; or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building. * The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”), which was not really suitable for (but was sometimes still used for) things such as military uniforms at the beginning of the US Civil War.

Meanings

  1. (of goods) Of poor quality or construction.
    • Do not settle for shoddy knives if you are serious about cooking.
    • Near-synonym: spotty
  2. (of quality) Poor; low.
    • Near-synonym: spotty
    • Do not settle for shoddy quality in your kitchen knives.
  3. (dated) Pretentious, sham, counterfeit.
  4. (dated) Ambitious by reason of newly-acquired wealth; nouveau riche.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
shoddier Degree=Cmp lexicographic
shoddiest Degree=Sup lexicographic

Deriveds

unshoddy · shoddydom · shoddyite · shoddily · shoddiness · shoddyism

Synonyms

wretched · crummy · crap · craptastic · poor man's · shitty · pathetic · flimsy · ticky-tacky · gash · cruddy · lousy · made in China · ropy · coffee-and · cheapshit · bum · second-rate · rinky-dink · mid · fourth-rate · crappo · subpar · low-quality · woeful · third-rate · drecky · bad · pound-shop · poor · chintzy · punk · shoddy · spotty · shite · slazy · low-grade · inferior · ass · garbage · crappy · cheap · trashy · trash · schlocky · spotty · scrubby · low-rent · under par · lousy · cruddy · bottom-shelf · sad · craptabulous · slight · god-awful · crapperific · dogwater · trashy · rubbish · base · BTEC · naughty · cheesy · slim · below par · shit · low · cheap and nasty · craptacular · tenth-rate · tin-pot · one-star · substandard

Translations (53)

pl marny (of poor quality) · fr effiloché (of poor quality) · ru дрянно́й (of poor quality) · es choreto (of poor quality) · la malefactus (of poor quality) · gl trapalleiro (of poor quality) · mi pūtaitai (of poor quality) · tr kalitesiz (of poor quality) · fi hääppöinen (of poor quality) · es cutre (of poor quality) · ru низкопро́бный (of poor quality) · cmn 劣等 (of poor quality) · es mal hecho (of poor quality) · es burdo (of poor quality) · es flaite (of poor quality) · bg долнопробен (of poor quality) · es chanta (of poor quality) · sv tafflig (of poor quality) · fi juosten kustu (of poor quality) · es chimbo (of poor quality) · es purrio (of poor quality) · de billig (of poor quality) · gl ruín (of poor quality) · el κακής ποιότητας (of poor quality) · de schäbig (of poor quality) · tr adi (of poor quality) · ja 劣等な (of poor quality) · de minderwertig (of poor quality) · pt ruim (of poor quality) · pl tandetny (of poor quality) · pl kiepski (of poor quality) · es chafa (of poor quality) · sv slarvig (of poor quality) · it scadente (of poor quality) · fi huonolaatuinen (of poor quality) · no slurvete (of poor quality) · ja 見掛け倒しの (of poor quality) · fi kehno (of poor quality) · tr uyuz (of poor quality) · pl lichy (of poor quality) · pl partacki (of poor quality) · fi ala-arvoinen (of poor quality) · el φτηνός (of poor quality) · fi kämäinen (of poor quality) · de schlampig (of poor quality) · nl nagemaakt (of poor quality) · no slurvet (of poor quality) · es deterior (of poor quality) · ko 조잡하다 (of poor quality) · la scadens (of poor quality) · fi surkea (of poor quality) · da skod (of poor quality) · es chungo (of poor quality)

shoddy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • [ˈʃɒ.ɾi] (Canada, US)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (General-American) audio
  • /ˈʃɑ.di/ (Canada, US)
  • [ˈʃɔd.i] (UK)
  • /ˈʃɒd.i/ (UK)

Etymology

* Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble; fragments”), equivalent to shoad + -y; or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building. * The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”), which was not really suitable for (but was sometimes still used for) things such as military uniforms at the beginning of the US Civil War.

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool.
    • Formerly, shoddy cloth was “used only for padding, and such like purposes, but now blankets, flushings, druggets, carpets, and table covers, cloth for pilot and Petersham great” coats, &c., are either wholly or partly made of shoddy, which, in fact, is “occasionally worn by everybody. The beautiful woollen table covers are made wholly of shoddy, being printed by aqua-fortis from designs drawn in London and Manchester, and cut on holly and other blocks, on the spot.” 1849, “A Statistical Outline of the Present Condition & Progress of the Anglo-Saxon Race”, in The Anglo-Saxon, page 123:
    • To fill contracts for hundreds of thousands of uniforms, textile manufacturers compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called “shoddy”. 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 324:
    • Shoddy is a cloth made from worn woollen things, old stockings, druggets, etc., which were formerly only used for the production of inferior paper, wallpaper, etc., but which were more often thrown on the waste-heap. These odds and ends are now raw materials for inexpensive clothing fabrics. The woollen things are torn to pieces by a machine having spiked rollers (termed a devil), cleansed, and the fibre spun with a certain proportion of new wool, the yarn being afterwards woven into the full-bodied but flimsy fabric termed shoddy. 1918, Henry J. Spooner, Wealth from Waste: Elimination of Waste A World Problem, George Routledge & Sons, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 200:
  2. (countable, dated, uncountable) Worthless goods.
  3. (colloquial, countable, dated, uncountable) Vulgar pretence or sham.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
shoddies Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

mungo · noil

Deriveds

shoddy fever

Hypernyms

fabric · textile · matter · stuff · cloth · material

Translations (2)

de Reißwolle (low-grade cloth made from used wool or wool byproducts) · ko 재생모 (low-grade cloth made from used wool or wool byproducts)