lexicow

haphazard

/hæpˈhæzərd//hæpˈhæzəd/·adjective
I watch the same tiles drop into the same grid, and now the colour hardly matters — they are all much of a muchness. What goes wrong is the placing: every tile lands askew, tilted a little, shoved off-centre, its corners hanging over the lines of the cell it was meant to fill. Nothing is squared up, nothing straightened. The grid ends up a crooked, overhanging mess — not because anyone chose badly, but because no care was taken at all.
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Definition

Something haphazard happens with no plan behind it — the word began as a gambler's term, from 'hap' (chance) and 'hazard' (an old dice game), so luck and risk are built into its roots. A haphazard search misses the obvious; haphazard notes are impossible to revise from; a haphazard pile is whatever was dropped where. Unlike an arbitrary act, which at least has a chooser deciding on a whim, a haphazard one has no one steering at all — things are simply left to scatter wherever they fall.

Examples

  • The report was assembled in such a haphazard way that no two sections agreed on the figures.
  • Boxes were stacked in a haphazard heap that toppled the moment anyone touched it.
  • Revising from haphazard notes is hopeless; you can never find the one fact you need.

Collocations

a haphazard manner·in a haphazard way·a haphazard approach·a haphazard collection·thrown together haphazardly

Synonyms

disorganized·random·slapdash·chaotic·indiscriminate

Antonyms

systematic·methodical·orderly·coherent

See also

Word family

haphazardly (adverb)·haphazardness (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A useful Writing word for criticizing method ('a haphazard approach', 'haphazard planning'); in Reading it signals the absence of any system. Don't confuse the tone with arbitrary: arbitrary disorder comes from a chooser's whim, haphazard disorder from no plan at all. The adverb haphazardly is common ('thrown together haphazardly'). Stress the second syllable: hap-HAZ-ard.