shoddy

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shoddy

/ˈʃɒd.i/ UK
[ˈʃɔd.i] UK
/ˈʃɑ.di/ Canada, US
[ˈʃɒ.ɾi] Canada, US

Sounds like shawty (cot–caught merger, flapping), shotty (flapping) · Rhymes with -ɒdi

Where it comes from

* Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble; fragments”), equivalent to shoad + -y; or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building.

* The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”), which was not really suitable for (but was sometimes still used for) things such as military uniforms at the beginning of the US Civil War.

adjective shoddier · shoddiest

of goods Of poor quality or construction. Near-synonym: spotty
Similar: spotty
of quality Poor; low. Near-synonym: spotty
Similar: cruddy, lousy, trashy, ass, bad, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC, bum, cheap, cheap and nasty
dated Pretentious, sham, counterfeit.
dated Ambitious by reason of newly-acquired wealth; nouveau riche.

noun shoddies

countable, uncountable A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool. Formerly, shoddy cloth was “used only for padding, and such like purposes, but now blankets, flushings, druggets, carpets, and table covers, cloth for pilot and Petersham great” coats, &c., are either wholly or partly made of shoddy, which, in fact, is “occasionally worn by everybody. The beautiful
countable, dated, uncountable Worthless goods.
colloquial, countable, dated, uncountable Vulgar pretence or sham.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: inferior, weak, tawdry, jerry-built, cheapjack, low-grade, flimsy, substandard, poor, shabby, mediocre, bad, wrong, counterfeit, fuzzy, woolly

Translations

Every language

adj of poor quality

Español	mal hecho, burdo, chafa, chanta, chimbo, cutre
한국어	조잡하다 jojaphada
日本語	見掛け倒しの mikakedaoshi no, 劣等な rettō na
中文	劣等 lièděng
Português	ruim
Français	effiloché
Deutsch	minderwertig, billig, schäbig, schlampig
Italiano	scadente
Ελληνικά	φτηνός ftinós, κακής ποιότητας kakís poiótitas
Русский	дрянно́й drjannój, низкопро́бный nizkopróbnyj

noun low-grade cloth made from used wool or wool byproducts

한국어	재생모 jaesaengmo
Deutsch	Reißwolle

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MLA

"shoddy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shoddy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shoddy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shoddy

Chicago

"shoddy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shoddy.

BibTeX

@misc{shoddy_2026,
  title = {shoddy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shoddy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}