as in dilapidated
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Recent Examples of patchy
Two patchy, short ceasefires limited to energy infrastructure.
—
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 24 Feb. 2026
Winds will relax Sunday night and, under clear skies, enough cooling by Monday morning could support a brief, patchy light freeze in the low-lying spots of the Hill Country and along the Balcones Escarpment.
—Newsroom Meteorologist, Austin American Statesman, 22 Feb. 2026
But data is patchy, so physicists also let their intuition guide them.
—Quanta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2026
Visibility will be greatly reduced in dense fog and some patchy freezing fog is possible through daybreak, especially on bridges and elevated roadways, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
—Cheryl Vari, Cincinnati Enquirer, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for patchy
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 24 Feb. 2026
Winds will relax Sunday night and, under clear skies, enough cooling by Monday morning could support a brief, patchy light freeze in the low-lying spots of the Hill Country and along the Balcones Escarpment.
—Newsroom Meteorologist, Austin American Statesman, 22 Feb. 2026
But data is patchy, so physicists also let their intuition guide them.
—Quanta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2026
Visibility will be greatly reduced in dense fog and some patchy freezing fog is possible through daybreak, especially on bridges and elevated roadways, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
—Cheryl Vari, Cincinnati Enquirer, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for patchy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for patchy
Adjective
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Such as dilapidated neighborhoods, toxic air, unkept public parks, failing infrastructure, unreliable public transportation and low wages.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Feb. 2026
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Through the window that day, Smith-Dean saw a potential gold mine for the community, where many who passed by on Spring Avenue saw only a dilapidated structure.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Before the third siren at seven o’clock Chitol parked his bicycle alongside hundreds of others like it, his identified by a faded yellow piece of his wife’s old sari around the handlebars, which doubled as a duster.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Feb. 2026
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The trembling bass mixed with faded talk-raps (somewhere between fakemink’s blurry party reports and SoundCloud-era Nav’s fame-hungry melodrama) feels like listening to Mustard’s pop-rap formula from inside the club bathroom.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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For best results, skip the pre-shredded cheeses available at the grocery store and shred the cheese yourself.—
Patricia S York,
Southern Living,
27 Feb. 2026
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Some of these bars feature vanilla extract, others call for brown sugar instead of granulated, many include melted butter, and a few remixes ask for shredded coconut.—
Karla Walsh,
Better Homes & Gardens,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Talking Heads played their first gig in June, 1975, opening for the Ramones at CBGB, a rock club on a mangy block in the East Village.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
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That also includes Leonard, a dapper old parrot who lives in the clinic, and Bitchy, a mangy, rangy alley cat who recently wandered into the office and took up residence.—
Duante Beddingfield,
Freep.com,
30 July 2025
Adjective
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When Bill’s older brother Henry (Barry Ward) finds the pianist in numbed solitude in his dingy apartment, Bill has canceled all his upcoming gigs, saying Scotty cannot be replaced.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
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Finding one that marries style and functionality can quickly take the space from dingy to spa-like.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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While the Florida project has always had a malleable aesthetic, the constants have been a love of gloomy atmospherics and a penchant for crafting decrepit worlds out of their swampy death-doom.—
Sam Goldner,
Pitchfork,
17 Feb. 2026
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The character is a decrepit monster, hundreds of years old, feeding off the blood of young women — and Besson presents him as a romantic martyr for love.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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For example, receive a new pair of socks, finally throw away that extra holey pair hiding in the back of the drawer.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
5 Jan. 2026
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That’s thanks to a quirk of South Florida’s geology, where the entire region is perched on holey rock that does little to stop the rise of groundwater, which Sukop’s research has shown is rising on pace with sea level.—
Susan Merriam,
Miami Herald,
12 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Her deeply tacky ball is the event of the episode, and her arrival has quite the ripple effect throughout the Ton.—
Christina Grace Tucker,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
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Instead of unsuccessfully trying to wipe off the dust buildup that has turned sticky with a damp cloth and only smearing it around, Goo Gone breaks down the tacky oils for complete and effortless removal.—
Maria Sabella,
The Spruce,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Patchy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/patchy. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.
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