crapshoot

noun

crap·​shoot ˈkrap-ˌshüt How to pronounce crapshoot (audio)
: something (such as a business venture) that has an unpredictable outcome

Example Sentences

there are almost no sure bets in the movie business—almost everything is a crapshoot
Recent Examples on the Web First-generation Audi TT Quattros certainly aren't the rarest of sports cars, and conventional wisdom might point out that any 21-year-old car is a crapshoot from a reliability standpoint. Jack Fitzgerald, Car and Driver, 10 Nov. 2022 Marketers are forced to make decisions with partial or incorrect data, which makes continuous improvement a crapshoot. Todd Juneau, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2023 In the crapshoot that is our weather, climate change loads the dice. National Geographic, 12 Jan. 2023 The Giants don’t want all this work to come down to a one-game crapshoot against a wild-card team. Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Sep. 2021 The unpredictability of rainfall — when, how often and how much — makes subsistence agriculture a crapshoot for rural farmers in the Bolivian Amazon, and the randomness is expected to get only worse. J Harris, Discover Magazine, 31 Mar. 2016 Also, the legacy of human error that can, occasionally, make the entire endeavor a crapshoot. John Anderson, WSJ, 17 May 2022 Besides, opening-week games can be a crapshoot. Ken Goe For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 12 Sep. 2021 Until recently, guided skiing in the United States was a crapshoot. Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 26 Feb. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crapshoot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of crapshoot was in 1971

Dictionary Entries Near crapshoot

Cite this Entry

“Crapshoot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crapshoot. Accessed 4 Jun. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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