botched; botching; botches
1
: to foul up hopelessly
—often used with up
2
: to put together in a makeshift way
botcher
noun
2
Synonyms
Verb
- blow
- bobble
- boggle
- bollix (up)
- boot
- bugger (up)
- bumble
- bungle
- butcher
- dub
- flub
- fluff
- foozle
- foul up
- fumble
- goof (up)
- louse up
- mangle
- mess (up)
- muck up
- muff
- murder
- screw up
Noun (2)
- agglomerate
- agglomeration
- alphabet soup
- assortment
- clutter
- collage
- crazy quilt
- farrago
- gallimaufry
- grab bag
- gumbo
- hash
- hodgepodge
- hotchpotch
- jambalaya
- jumble
- jungle
- litter
- macédoine
- medley
- mélange
- menagerie
- miscellanea
- miscellany
- mishmash
- mixed bag
- montage
- motley
- muddle
- olio
- olla podrida
- omnium-gatherum
- pastiche
- patchwork
- patchwork quilt
- potpourri
- ragbag
- ragout
- rummage
- salad
- salmagundi
- scramble
- shuffle
- smorgasbord
- stew
- tumble
- variety
- welter
Examples of botch in a Sentence
Verb
The store botched the order—I received only half the books I paid for.
They clearly botched the investigation.
Recent Examples on the Web
Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
In one of the first botches of the night, Ripley and Jax botched a hurricanrana.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
This is a disgrace, an extreme, unexplainable botch.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
Giménez botches bunt, homers instead to lead Guardians past White Sox in 4-2 win
The chirping between Anderson, Chicago’s shortstop, and Arias, Cleveland’s first baseman, started well before the sixth-inning fight between Anderson and Jose Ramirez.
—Paul Hoynes, cleveland, 6 Aug. 2023
The botch required the rescoring of 300,000 exams, scholastic victims of the knotty coin rotation paradox.
—Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 20 June 2023
These games are a moral botch.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2022
There was an early botch on a leapfrog that seemed to drag this match down, especially with the crowd being mostly silent for it.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
The 1961 Cuba invasion was an epic presidential botch—and yet, Kennedy’s standing improved afterward.
—Fredrik Logevall, The New Republic, 24 Aug. 2021
Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2024
Emails obtained by the Star between the county and the team reveal what was said behind the scenes, and ultimately how the talks broke down.
Did Jackson County botch the deal?
—Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 22 Apr. 2024
When Ticketmaster seemingly botched the initial release of her Eras Tour tickets, the fans made enough noise that US lawmakers took notice.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 19 Apr. 2024
Sometimes a finale just botches the job, and there’s nothing wrong with saying so.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The state botched its first execution, of former inmate John Grant, by lethal injection upon its return to the schedule.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024
Peltz’s main criticisms of Disney’s board were that the company had botched succession planning for Iger and had failed to put together a profitable streaming strategy.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
There’s no question that the state botched the implementation.
—Mike Baker, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2024
Keep scrolling The feds just botched financial aid data for roughly 200K students.
—USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2024
Noun
Arizona remained white hot for Orton despite his botch and generally doing very little in the match.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
In one of the first botches of the night, Ripley and Jax botched a hurricanrana.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
This is a disgrace, an extreme, unexplainable botch.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
Giménez botches bunt, homers instead to lead Guardians past White Sox in 4-2 win
The chirping between Anderson, Chicago’s shortstop, and Arias, Cleveland’s first baseman, started well before the sixth-inning fight between Anderson and Jose Ramirez.
—Paul Hoynes, cleveland, 6 Aug. 2023
The botch required the rescoring of 300,000 exams, scholastic victims of the knotty coin rotation paradox.
—Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 20 June 2023
These games are a moral botch.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2022
There was an early botch on a leapfrog that seemed to drag this match down, especially with the crowd being mostly silent for it.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
The 1961 Cuba invasion was an epic presidential botch—and yet, Kennedy’s standing improved afterward.
—Fredrik Logevall, The New Republic, 24 Aug. 2021
Verb
They are accused of botching an internal affairs investigation into former Homicide Det.
—Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2024
Emails obtained by the Star between the county and the team reveal what was said behind the scenes, and ultimately how the talks broke down.
Did Jackson County botch the deal?
—Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 22 Apr. 2024
When Ticketmaster seemingly botched the initial release of her Eras Tour tickets, the fans made enough noise that US lawmakers took notice.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 19 Apr. 2024
Sometimes a finale just botches the job, and there’s nothing wrong with saying so.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The state botched its first execution, of former inmate John Grant, by lethal injection upon its return to the schedule.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024
Peltz’s main criticisms of Disney’s board were that the company had botched succession planning for Iger and had failed to put together a profitable streaming strategy.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
There’s no question that the state botched the implementation.
—Mike Baker, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2024
Keep scrolling The feds just botched financial aid data for roughly 200K students.
—USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'botch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near botch
Cite this Entry
“Botch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/botch. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
botch
noun
: an inflammatory sore
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share