BOTCH

blunder, blooper, bloomer, bungle, pratfall, foul-up, fuckup, flub, botch, boner, boo-boo

(noun) an embarrassing mistake

botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up

(verb) make a mess of, destroy or ruin; ā€œI botched the dinner and we had to eat outā€; ā€œthe pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movementā€

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Verb

botch (third-person singular simple present botches, present participle botching, simple past and past participle botched)

(transitive) To perform (a task) in an unacceptable or incompetent manner; to make a mess of something

Synonyms: ruin, bungle, spoil, destroy

To do something without skill, without care, or clumsily.

To repair or mend clumsily.

Synonyms

• bodge

Noun

botch (plural botches)

An action, job, or task that has been performed very badly; a ruined, defective, or clumsy piece of work.

A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner.

A mistake that is very stupid or embarrassing.

A messy, disorderly or confusing combination; conglomeration; hodgepodge.

(archaic) One who makes a mess of something; a bungler.

Etymology 2

Noun

botch (plural botches)

(obsolete) A tumour or other malignant swelling.

A case or outbreak of boils or sores.

Source: Wiktionary


Botch, n.; pl. Botches. Etym: [Same as Boss a stud. For senses 2 & 3 cf. D. botsen to beat, akin to E. beat.]

1. A swelling on the skin; a large ulcerous affection; a boil; an eruptive disease. [Obs. or Dial.] Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss. Milton.

2. A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner.

3. Work done in a bungling manner; a clumsy performance; a piece of work, or a place in work, marred in the doing, or not properly finished; a bungle. To leave no rubs nor botches in the work. Shak.

Botch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Botched; p. pr. & vb. n. Botching.] Etym: [See Botch, n.]

1. To mark with, or as with, botches. Young Hylas, botched with stains. Garth.

2. To repair; to mend; esp. to patch in a clumsy or imperfect manner, as a garment; -- sometimes with up. Sick bodies . . . to be kept and botched up for a time. Robynson (More's Utopia).

3. To put together unsuitably or unskillfully; to express or perform in a bungling manner; to spoil or mar, as by unskillful work. For treason botched in rhyme will be thy bane. Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 February 2025

ANALYSIS

(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ā€˜the father of the brideā€™ instead of ā€˜the brideā€™s fatherā€™


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Coffee Trivia

There are four varieties of commercially viable coffee: Arabica, Liberica, Excelsa, and Robusta. Growers predominantly plant the Arabica species. Although less popular, Robusta tastes slightly more bitter and contains more caffeine.

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