: a heterogeneous mixture : jumble
a hodgepodge of styles
Examples of hodgepodge in a Sentence
the exhibit was a hodgepodge of mediocre art, bad art, and really bad art
Recent Examples on the Web
Those influences coalesced in a cross-cultural hodgepodge that earned Hilton $150,000 and the distinction of World Food Champion.
—
Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
The hodgepodge of dates marking emancipation is part of the appeal of celebrating the event, said William Isom, the director of Black in Appalachia, an East Tennessee PBS initiative to highlight the history of Black communities in the mountain South.
—Amber Roberson, Nashville Tennessean, 19 June 2025
Absent federal direction, the fight against violent extremism falls to a hodgepodge of state efforts, some of them robust and others fledgling.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 31 May 2025
This pursuit could even lead to applications in a hodgepodge of fields such as metal smelting, food preservation, and biopharmaceuticals.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2025
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Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
The hodgepodge of dates marking emancipation is part of the appeal of celebrating the event, said William Isom, the director of Black in Appalachia, an East Tennessee PBS initiative to highlight the history of Black communities in the mountain South.
—Amber Roberson, Nashville Tennessean, 19 June 2025
Absent federal direction, the fight against violent extremism falls to a hodgepodge of state efforts, some of them robust and others fledgling.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 31 May 2025
This pursuit could even lead to applications in a hodgepodge of fields such as metal smelting, food preservation, and biopharmaceuticals.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for hodgepodge
Cite this Entry
“Hodgepodge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hodgepodge. Accessed 26 Jul. 2025.
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Etymology
an altered form of hotchpotch, from Middle English hochepot "mixed stew," derived from early French hochepot (same meaning), from hochier "to shake" and pot "pot, container"
Word Origin
Hodgepodge and its older form hotchpotch are part of a group of words that rhyme all by themselves. Hobnob and willy-nilly are others. In the case of hodgepodge and hotchpotch, the rhyme is not an accident. These words came to English from early French in the form hochepot. The spelling was changed to make the second half of the word rhyme with the first. In French hochepot was a stew of many foods cooked together in a pot. Perhaps the pot was shaken instead of stirred since hochepot was formed from hochier, meaning "to shake," and pot, which had the same meaning in early French as it does in English now. Before long hotchpotch and hodgepodge were used not just for a mixture of foods cooking in a pot but for any mixture of different things.
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