Antonyms for shoddy


Grammar : Adj
Spell : shod-ee
Phonetic Transcription : ˈʃɒd i


Definition of shoddy

Origin :
  • 1862, "having a delusive appearance of high quality," a Northern word from the American Civil War in reference to the quality of government supplies for the armies, from earlier noun meaning "rag-wool, wool made of woolen waste and old rags" (1832), perhaps a Yorkshire provincial word, of uncertain origin.
  • Originally used for padding, English manufacturers began making coarse wearing clothes from it, and when new it looked like broad-cloth but the gloss quickly wore off, giving the stuff a bad reputation as a cheat. The 1860 U.S. census of manufactures notes import of more than 6 million pounds of it, which was "much used in the manufacture of army and navy cloths and blankets in the United States" according to an 1865 government report.
  • The Days of Shoddy, as the reader will readily anticipate, are the opening months of the present war, at which time the opprobrious name first came into general use as a designation for swindling and humbug of every character; and nothing more need be said to indicate the scope of this novel. [Henry Morford, "The Days of Shoddy: A Novel of the Great Rebellion in 1861," Philadelphia, 1863]
  • Related: Shoddily; shoddiness.
  • adj in bad shape
Example sentences :
  • Most of the novels and non-scholastic books were of a shoddy, sensational type.
  • Extract from : « Cleo The Magnificent » by Louis Zangwill
  • You can tell at a glance that it is shoddy and quite unfit for wearing.
  • Extract from : « The Common Sense of Socialism » by John Spargo
  • Well, if this stuff is flocks, how is shoddy made, and what does it look like?
  • Extract from : « Under Fire » by Frank A. Munsey
  • Once a year there was a distribution of cheap blankets and shoddy clothing.
  • Extract from : « The Indian Today » by Charles A. Eastman
  • When you agree to clothe the body,Expand your soul and flee from shoddy.
  • Extract from : « The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3 No 2, February 1863 » by Various
  • And he took the shoddy reproof and touched it into immortality.
  • Extract from : « A Room With A View » by E. M. Forster
  • A shambling, shoddy crew, this crowd of shoppers and labor demonstrators!
  • Extract from : « The Freelands » by John Galsworthy
  • That Eton captain is cut out of whole cloth; no shoddy there, by Jove!
  • Extract from : « The Hill » by Horace Annesley Vachell
  • I may state, in passing, that it was during the Civil War that the word "shoddy" was coined.
  • Extract from : « As I Remember » by Marian Gouverneur
  • The work of this or that smith always looks rough and shoddy.
  • Extract from : « Life in a Railway Factory » by Alfred Williams

Synonyms for shoddy

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019