as in haphazard
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Recent Examples of hit-and-miss
The hit-and-miss driverless experience comes despite Musk responding in September to a Robotaxi user’s social media lament about having a supervisor in the driver’s seat.
—
Andrea Guzmán, Austin American Statesman, 21 Jan. 2026
So much of the immediate pleasure of the show came from how unforced and unstudied the young ensemble was in the beginning, but what felt like brilliant casting in the beginning became increasingly more hit-and-miss as the show progressed.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 1 Jan. 2026
Perhaps not coincidentally, Crowe has been on a long-running, hit-and-miss self-improvement program for at least two decades.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
His hobby has grown to include 30 tractors, a number of hit-and-miss engines and several cars.
—Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Oct. 2025
They have been hit-and-miss with their high-quality opportunities, though, with their big-chance conversion rate of 33 per cent matching Manchester United’s.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
The storms are expected to be hit-and-miss, so not everyone will see rain.
—Kansas City Star, 17 Sep. 2025
The hit-and-miss nature has been highlighted by those with early access to the hardware.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
Creating embryo models has also been a hit-and-miss process for most research groups, with only a small percentage of stem cells going on to self-organize into embryo-like structures.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 30 July 2025
Andrea Guzmán, Austin American Statesman, 21 Jan. 2026
So much of the immediate pleasure of the show came from how unforced and unstudied the young ensemble was in the beginning, but what felt like brilliant casting in the beginning became increasingly more hit-and-miss as the show progressed.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 1 Jan. 2026
Perhaps not coincidentally, Crowe has been on a long-running, hit-and-miss self-improvement program for at least two decades.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
His hobby has grown to include 30 tractors, a number of hit-and-miss engines and several cars.
—Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Oct. 2025
They have been hit-and-miss with their high-quality opportunities, though, with their big-chance conversion rate of 33 per cent matching Manchester United’s.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
The storms are expected to be hit-and-miss, so not everyone will see rain.
—Kansas City Star, 17 Sep. 2025
The hit-and-miss nature has been highlighted by those with early access to the hardware.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
Creating embryo models has also been a hit-and-miss process for most research groups, with only a small percentage of stem cells going on to self-organize into embryo-like structures.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 30 July 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hit-and-miss
Adjective
-
The result is a haphazard vision for a future that the Bulls still haven’t fully fleshed out.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Cheung has also documented the haphazard quality of the operation, as in one photograph showing a gun magazine left in the snow after agents departed from a scene.—
Emily Witt,
New Yorker,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Instead, a suitcase and a random assortment of clothes disappeared along with her.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
5 Feb. 2026
-
PlayStation consoles rely on a type of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips, which are in short supply as demand from artificial intelligence and data center operators increases.—
Dylan Butts,
CNBC,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
His offense can be hit-or-miss, but his defense is pretty consistent.—
Scott Powers,
New York Times,
2 Feb. 2026
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And while its status as an Academy Awards bellwether has been hit-or-miss over the years — particularly given the tumult surrounding the show and its members — recognition there can help boost a film’s prospects.—
Samantha Masunaga,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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His scattered family, like so many others, reflects the extraordinary exodus of almost 8 million Venezuelans — regarded as the largest-ever displacement of people in the Americas.—
Mery Mogollon,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
-
More scattered sleet, snow and ice are expected for the afternoon, before widespread precipitation is predicted to return Saturday night.—
Julia James,
Dallas Morning News,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The film, which shows an aimless day in the life of Austin, showcases some of its more eccentric characters.—
Michael Barnes,
Austin American Statesman,
5 Feb. 2026
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Any shred of free time is too easy to fill with more work, more worrying, more commitments, and, of course, more aimless scrolling.—
Bekah Waalkes,
The Atlantic,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The presence of Notre Dame, the presence of Hannah Hidalgo, who had torched UConn twice before and is also in the national player-of-the-year conversation, the memory of a desultory loss in South Bend a year ago were enough to stoke Strong on Monday night.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
20 Jan. 2026
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Once more, police made desultory enquiries and soon lost interest, their investigative resources stretched thin by a recent string of bombings in London by Irish republican extremists.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Judges could reason the NCAA interpreting rules to allow pros from some leagues, but not others, is hypocritical and arbitrary.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
10 Feb. 2026
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Venezuela’s opposition and human rights groups have long accused the country’s authoritarian regime of using arbitrary arrests to suppress dissent.—
Diego Mendoza,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Use a vacuum nozzle to pick up stray lint inside the agitator cavity and wipe it down with a damp cloth.—
Louise Parks,
Martha Stewart,
4 Feb. 2026
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Music that’s composed of a thousand stray fragments, while still having a beating heart.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
3 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hit-and-miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hit-and-miss. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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