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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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
  • Permit holders can choose between pine, fir, and cedar varieties.
    — Anne Ewbank, Sacbee.com, 1 Nov. 2026
  • But this is really about family and family history, and about how there are so many new varieties of loneliness in the world.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of varieties
Verb
  • While the 44-6 vote effectively blows a $75 million hole in the mayor's 2027 budget proposal, alders argued the funds were always intended to continue chipping away at the city's $36 billion pension debt, not to help balance next year's budget.
    — Todd Feurer, CBS News, 2 Nov. 2026
  • That means that the part of the fan that blows air out needs to be on the exterior of your cube, and the back side of the fan that pulls in air needs to be on the inside of your cube.
    — John Alexander, Popular Science, 1 Nov. 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 4 Nov. 2026.

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