botches 1 of 2

noun

plural of botch
as in jumbles
an unorganized collection or mixture of various things this police procedural is basically a botch of plot elements stolen from other (and better) novels

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botches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of botch
as in fumbles
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way the first time we tried to make a cake, we botched the job completely

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of botches
Noun
During last week's WWE SmackDown, a series of mistakes and botches drew harsh criticism from fans. — Matthew Couden, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
Verb
In clinical environments bound by federal regulations and ethics guidelines, an LLM that hallucinates an endpoint or botches eligibility criteria does not just cause a minor hiccup. — Anshima Raj, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2026 Then the candidate, unfamiliar with some far-away region of the world, botches it. — Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026 But there’s nothing shocking or subversive about this movie, which plays like proficient, forgettable straight-to-streaming fare for the first ninety minutes and then botches its big, bloody finale. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 27 May 2026 Continue reading … FACT CHECK – Washington Post botches Israel-Gaza history leading to major correction. — FOXNews.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for botches
  1. jumbles
  2. fumbles
  3. varieties
  4. blows
  5. assortments
  6. bungles
  7. medleys
  8. collages
Noun
  • Arches and natural bridges sweep like buttresses from jumbles of rock, giving this landscape a mystical, cathedral-like quality.
    — Madison Chapman, Outside, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Macaroons are chewy jumbles of coconut bound together with egg whites and sweetened condensed milk.
    — Lynda Balslev, Mercury News, 10 Feb. 2026
Definition of jumbles
Verb
  • So the associate who fumbles a membership conversation doesn’t need a lecture.
    — Zaharia-Gabriel Sidere, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • DeLand was driving inside the 20 yard line and Taihj Moore fumbles, recovered by Lake Mary.
    — Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of fumbles
Noun
  • The offer includes 30 bread varieties, 8,000 wines and spirits and approximately 120 kinds of cheese — to name but a few of the treats found here.
    — Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Around the middle of the century, agronomists also developed high-yield, fast-growing varieties of staple crops like wheat and rice in what is known as the Green Revolution.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of varieties
Verb
  • Morgan blows a meeting with a publisher (Poorna Jagannathan, in her third of four high-profile TV role this year.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Miami fans had plenty to stress about as the UM offense misfired and Florida State responded to potential knockout blows with huge plays.
    — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of blows
Noun
  • At Publix and Walmart, the big-bag assortments of mini chocolate bars run between 14 cents to 22 cents per piece, but that can still get pricey in a hurry for people who live in complexes with large populations of kids trolling for treats.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Asher’s, while primarily responsible for its own brand of chocolate bars and other assortments, will occasionally produce chocolate for bands, brands, charities and other companies.
    — Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of assortments
Verb
  • Joe Burrow bungles Bengals’ passing game My theory of the case with Caleb Williams is that there was untapped running value here.
    — Michael Salfino, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Gentleman thief Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) circles the prize while Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) bungles the pursuit with sublime obliviousness.
    — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2025
Definition of bungles
Noun
  • Lowlights included uninspiring medleys.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 8 June 2026
  • For the elder millennials, the bittersweet spot was the medleys of older Kanye cuts released from 2004 to 2016 (think The College Dropout to The Life of Pablo).
    — Adelle Platon, VIBE.com, 2 Apr. 2026
Definition of medleys
Noun
  • Pollard has also been immersed in surrealism and dada, fitting genres for a musician and visual artist who has a knack for bending words and images to his will — either via hallucinatory lyrics or collages that mesh realms both physical and meta.
    — Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Better be watching the clouds again and again (2000/2017) is a series of collages attributed to a fictional Lebanese Army officer named Fadwa Hassoun, who’d trained as a botanist.
    — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of collages

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Cite this Entry

“Botches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/botches. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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