scattershot

adjective

scat·​ter·​shot ˈska-tər-ˌshät How to pronounce scattershot (audio)
: broadly and often randomly inclusive : shotgun
scattershot advice
scattershot planning

Examples of scattershot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Last week, Cohen’s questioning of Caroline Ellison, prosecutors’ most damning witness so far, was particularly scattershot and prompted near-constant objections from prosecutors that the judge largely sustained. Allison Morrow, CNN, 16 Oct. 2023 Advertisement To some, these harrowing events may appear scattershot — individual pieces of evidence of general unrest or of society falling apart. Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2023 Amazon’s latest two-day bombardment of deals — which will (most likely) function as the last discount-heavy holiday prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday — technically wrapped yesterday, yet there’s still a scattershot helping of deals available to those who missed it. Brandon Widder, The Verge, 12 Oct. 2023 County maps that show scattershot holdings for Flannery don’t paint a full picture, one person said, because the company has also struck arrangements with some landowners that would not have to be reported to the county. Conor Dougherty, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2023 Watching their efforts unfold, de Paulis thinks these scattershot efforts may be distracting users from exploring each idea to the full. Shi En Kim, Scientific American, 3 Aug. 2023 In a stunning repudiation of the Combined Charging System (CCS) network—whose scattershot reliability has rankled EV owners or left prospects leery about buying one—a Who’s Who of automakers will unplug from CCS in favor of Tesla’s trustworthy North American Charging Standard (NACS). IEEE Spectrum, 2 Aug. 2023 Barbie probably is a feminist movie, but only in the most scattershot way. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 18 July 2023 Before, the schedule of debates were determined by media outlets — and the candidates themselves — in something of a scattershot system. James Pindell, BostonGlobe.com, 13 July 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scattershot.' 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

1951, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of scattershot was in 1951

Dictionary Entries Near scattershot

Cite this Entry

“Scattershot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scattershot. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

More from Merriam-Webster on scattershot

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!