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botch definition

botch (bäc̸h)

transitive verb

  1. to repair or patch clumsily
  2. to spoil by poor work or poor performance; bungle

Etymology: ME bocchen, to repair < ?

noun

  1. a badly patched place or part
  2. a bungled or unskillful piece of work

Related Forms:

botch2 definition

botch (bäc̸h)

noun

Brit., Dialectal a boil, sore, or ulcer

Etymology: ME bocche < Anglo-Norm boche (OFr boce): see boss

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

botch Synonyms

botch

v.

bungle, spoil, mar, ruin, wreck, mutilate, fumble, distort, blunder, mishandle, do clumsily, muddle, make a mess of, trip up, flounder, err, fall down, be mistaken, misapply, misjudge, misconjecture, mismanage, miscalculate, misconstrue, misreckon, miscompute, misestimate, execute clumsily, do unskillfully, stumble, make a hash of*, put one's foot in it*, pull a boner*, goof up*, butcher*, screw up*, mess up*, foul up*, muff*, flub one's lines*, put out of whack*; see also destroy 1, fail 1.

Antonyms succeed*, fix*, do well.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

botch Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • thing: Keepers get noticed only when they are making a botch of things and Jones has been unobtrusive these few weeks.

Object

  • operation: I can't see him having too many troubles recovering, as long as the surgeon hasn't botched the operation.

Converse of object

  • make: Molenaar looked a liability at the back, fell over a lot, made some right botches.

Modifying Another Word

  • badly: A US-backed coup against him was badly botched in 2002.
botch usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"botch." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/botch>

APA Style

botch. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/botch

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