spotty

play

adjective spot·ty \ˈspä-tē\

Definition of spotty

spottier

;

spottiest

1 : marked with spots : spotted
2 : lacking uniformity especially in quality the performance was spotty; also : irregularly or sparsely distributed spotty attendance spotty data

spottily

play \ˈspä-tə-lē\ adverb

spottiness

play \ˈspä-tē-nəs\ noun

See spotty defined for English-language learners

See spotty defined for kids

Examples of spotty in a Sentence

Her work has been spotty.
The service at that restaurant is a little spotty.
students with spotty attendance records

Recent Examples of spotty from the Web

Scattered, spotty downpours dampened Fourth of July spirits in Indianapolis and forced the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to temporarily evacuate its annual concert at Conner Prairie.

— ruth serven, Indianapolis Star, "Rain on the Fourth of July: Weather forces Symphony on the Prairie delays", 4 July 2017
Louis-Dreyfus got good reviews in Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry, but otherwise her movie career (Father’s Day; National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) has been spotty.

— chris smith, Daily Intelligencer, "Single (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)", 30 June 2017
This often becomes a cycle of the plant developing new leaves, turning spotty and brown, and then dropping those new infected leaves.

— jefferson county cooperative extension, AL.com, "Boxwood blight (Garden Talk)", 26 June 2017
In the meantime, a firmware fix—if available—is the best option, though again, availability may be spotty.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "Skylake, Kaby Lake chips have a crash bug with hyperthreading enabled", 26 June 2017
But even in schools making a conscious effort, implementation can be spotty, says Jal Mehta, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

— stacy teicher khadaroo, The Christian Science Monitor, "Is school too shallow?", 23 June 2017
The CGI quality of the mist is sometimes spotty, but the dramatic effect for viewers of suddenly being engulfed in gray gloom is enjoyably squirmy.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "The Intriguing Chills of The Mist", 21 June 2017
Below are some reports of spotty wind damage received from throughout the area (also note, Dominion Power reported about 26,000 customers without power around 4 p.m.): Crown of tree snapped on east front of Capitol.

— jeff halverson, Washington Post, "Storms pass through D.C. area with spotty wind damage, lingering showers follow", 19 June 2017
The thing is, some Indonesian men struggle to grow beards and often end up with just a few wispy strands or some spotty patches of peach fuzz....

— james hookway, WSJ, "Hair-Raising Idea: A Beard Business Sprouts in Indonesia", 18 June 2017

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