sloppy

play

adjective slop·py \ˈslä-pē\

Definition of sloppy

sloppier

;

sloppiest

1a : wet so as to spatter easily : slushy a sloppy racetrackb : wet or smeared with or as if with something slopped over
2 : slovenly, careless a sloppy dresser did sloppy work
3 : disagreeably effusive sloppy sentimentalism

sloppily

play \ˈslä-pə-lē\ adverb

sloppiness

noun

See sloppy defined for English-language learners

See sloppy defined for kids

Examples of sloppy in a Sentence

Your work has been very sloppy lately.
a sloppy child who always seems to have spilled something on his clothes

Recent Examples of sloppy from the Web

Loco moco and huli-huli chicken channel tradition, while a baby octopus terrine with foie gras and the sloppy kimchi burger take delicious liberties.

— garrett snyder, Los Angeles Magazine, "The Los Angeles Magazine Hot Restaurant List for July 2017," 18 July 2017
The foreign players dominated a sloppy game, with Hulk at one point berating Lin Chuangyi for a misplaced pass, causing his teammate’s shoulders to slump.

— tariq panja, Bloomberg.com, "Soccer Balls and China’s Billions," 13 July 2017
Boise tied the game with two runs in the sixth but got sloppy in the 10th as Vancouver scored four runs and beat the Hawks 7-3 on Friday in Northwest League action at Memorial Stadium.

— ryan horlen, idahostatesman, "Boise Hawks fall in extra innings to Vancouver Canadians," 7 July 2017
Teddy’s cadence seems a bit too modern, which gives his story a sloppy, out-of-time quality.

— richard lawson, HWD, "Snowfall Provides Only Fleeting, Forgettable Highs," 5 July 2017
Even worse is a sloppy decision by the postdoc who designed the experiments for that student, wasting months of effort.

— john bohannon, Science | AAAS, "A new breed of scientist, with brains of silicon," 5 July 2017
The bullpen allowed two sloppy runs in the seventh, and those loomed large as the Rangers scored twice in the ninth, one on an Elvis Andrus homer, and brought the potential tying run to the plate.

— jeff wilson, star-telegram.com, "Indians top Darvish as Rangers play waiting game on trades," 28 June 2017
WannaCry has been declawed, thanks to the creators’ sloppy coding and a timely move by a British security researcher who goes by the pseudonym MalwareTech.

— charlie wood, The Christian Science Monitor, "Cyberwar's new front: What we know about latest global attacks," 28 June 2017
In recent years, the comedian and actor became known for scolding fellow African-Americans for poor grammar, sloppy dress and not valuing education, critiques that drew fire from some as elitist.

— lynn elber, chicagotribune.com, "Spokesman: Bill Cosby plans series of town halls to educate youth on misbehavior," 23 June 2017

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