: sometimes successful and sometimes not : not reliably good or successful

Examples of hit-and-miss in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
They have been hit-and-miss with their high-quality opportunities, though, with their big-chance conversion rate of 33 per cent matching Manchester United’s. Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025 The storms are expected to be hit-and-miss, so not everyone will see rain. Kansas City Star, 17 Sep. 2025 The hit-and-miss nature has been highlighted by those with early access to the hardware. Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025 Creating embryo models has also been a hit-and-miss process for most research groups, with only a small percentage of stem cells going on to self-organize into embryo-like structures. Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 30 July 2025 Capaldi himself was a phenomenal Doctor, bringing that trademark blend of grizzled warrior and cosmic buffoon, but his episodes were a bit hit-and-miss. Richard Edwards, Space.com, 29 May 2025 Her exit comes after a hit-and-miss string of Prime Video titles with high budgets: Under her tenure, for every spectacular Fallout came a lackluster Citadel or Red One. Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hit-and-miss was in 1897

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hit-and-miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hit-and-miss. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

hit-and-miss

adjective
ˌhit-ᵊn-ˈmis
: sometimes successful and sometimes not : haphazard

More from Merriam-Webster on hit-and-miss

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