Definition of HAPHAZARDLY

Choose the Right Synonym for haphazard

Adjective

random, haphazard, casual mean determined by accident rather than design. random stresses lack of definite aim, fixed goal, or regular procedure. a random selection of books haphazard applies to what is done without regard for regularity or fitness or ultimate consequence. a haphazard collection of rocks casual suggests working or acting without deliberation, intention, or purpose. a casual collector

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Noun

The "hap" in "haphazard" comes from an English word that means "happening," as well as "chance or fortune," and that derives from the Old Norse word happ, meaning "good luck." Perhaps it’s no accident that "hazard," as well, has its own connotations of luck: while it now refers commonly to something that presents danger, at one time it referred to a dice game similar to craps. (The name ultimately derives from the Arabic al-zahr, or "the die.") "Haphazard" first entered English as a noun (again meaning "chance") in the 16th century, and soon afterward was being used as an adjective to describe things with no apparent logic or order.

Examples of haphazard in a Sentence

Adjective We were given a haphazard tour of the city. considering the haphazard way you measured the ingredients, it's a wonder the cookies came out this good

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective And yet this haphazard film is a ride, a romantic provocation torn between cultural strife and individual striving. — Darren Franich, EW.com, "Queen & Slim is an old-fashioned road picture set in a brutally modern America: Review," 25 Nov. 2019 Customers voiced frustration, complaining about the haphazard organization, particularly the website that crashed as Californians rushed to get information about the outages. — Matthias Gafni, SFChronicle.com, "Has PG&E improved its communication during forced power outages?," 23 Oct. 2019 The only problem is that perfect rulebooks don’t exist, because natural language is far too complex and haphazard to be reduced to a rigid set of specifications. — Quanta Magazine, "Machines Beat Humans on a Reading Test. But Do They Understand?," 17 Oct. 2019 What frustrated Walker was the haphazard nature of the PG&E outages. — Los Angeles Times, "Scrambling to prep for an imminent blackout that took all day to arrive," 10 Oct. 2019 Gareth Southgate was left unimpressed by England's haphazard defensive display on Tuesday evening, as the Three Lions ran out 5-3 winners over Group A rivals Kosovo. — SI.com, "Gareth Southgate Admits Concern Over England's Sloppy Defending in 5-3 Kosovo Victory," 11 Sep. 2019 For her, sometimes the conjugation was a haphazard intertwining, with loose swings—other times more planned and positive. — Diane Williams, Harper's magazine, "Five Stories," 28 Oct. 2019 This all conspires to give the impression that Twitter, instead of merely commenting on the world, can actually influence it in a far more targeted way than, say, a haphazard bundle of Facebook ad buys during a major election. — Nathaniel Friedman, The New Republic, "Moments Without Truth," 21 Oct. 2019 The plan, different from the club’s previous rather haphazard approach to transfers, kicked into motion during the summer and saw the arrival of Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire, as well as the partial clearing of deadwood. — SI.com, "Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Insists 'Structure Is Right' at Man Utd & He's Planning for the Long-Term," 17 Oct. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun There were haphazard attempts at trailing back in transition. — Joe Freeman, oregonlive, "Portland Trail Blazers’ defense ‘a concern,' but they insist it will get better with time," 7 Nov. 2019 Aleksandr Golovin curled home a wonderful free-kick after haphazard defending from Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny to level six minutes later. — Afp, chicagotribune.com, "Europa League Recap: Arsenal rout CSKA, Atletico, RB Leipzig, Lazio take victories," 5 Apr. 2018 The system now is a haphazard, on-the-ground monitoring network used to track greenhouse gases. — John Fialka, Scientific American, "Meet the Satellites that Can Pinpoint Methane and Carbon Dioxide Leaks," 9 Mar. 2018 Winfrey, who was first elected as city clerk in 2005, has come under fire multiple times over the years for running a haphazard and error-prone election process. — Allie Gross, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit City Clerk announces new re-evaluation plan for all 3,000 election poll workers," 27 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'haphazard.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

2 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Haphazard.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haphazardly. Accessed 5 December 2019.