haphazard

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hap·haz·ard

(hăp-hăz′ərd)

adj.

Dependent upon or characterized by mere chance. See Synonyms at chance.

Mere chance; fortuity.

adv.

By chance; casually.

hap·haz′ard·ly adv.

hap·haz′ard·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

haphazard

(hæpˈhæzəd)

adv, adj

at random

adj

careless; slipshod

rare chance

hapˈhazardly adv

hapˈhazardness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hap•haz•ard

(adj., adv. hæpˈhæz ərd; n. ˈhæpˌhæz-)

adj.

1. characterized by lack of order or planning; irregular; chance; random.

adv.

2. haphazardly.

3. mere chance; accident.

[1565–75; hap¹ + hazard]

hap•haz′ard•ly, adv.

hap•haz′ard•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	haphazard - dependent upon or characterized by chance; "a haphazard plan of action"; "his judgment is rather hit-or-miss" hit-or-miss random - lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"; "bombs fell at random"; "random movements"
	2.	haphazard - marked by great carelessness; "a most haphazard system of record keeping"; "slapdash work"; "slipshod spelling"; "sloppy workmanship" slapdash, slipshod, sloppy careless - marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful; "careless about her clothes"; "forgotten by some careless person"; "a careless housekeeper"; "careless proofreading"; "it was a careless mistake"; "hurt by a careless remark"
Adv.	1.	haphazard - without care; in a slapdash manner; "the Prime Minister was wearing a grey suit and a white shirt with a soft collar, but his neck had become thinner and the collar stood away from it as if it had been bought haphazard" haphazardly

haphazard

adjective

1. unsystematic, disorderly, disorganized, casual, careless, indiscriminate, aimless, slapdash, slipshod, hit or miss (informal), unmethodical The investigation does seem haphazard.
organized, systematic, methodical unsystematic considered, careful, thoughtful, orderly

2. random, chance, accidental, arbitrary, fluky (informal) She was trying to connect her life's seemingly haphazard events.
random planned, arranged, deliberate

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

haphazard

adjective

Having no particular pattern, purpose, organization, or structure:

chance, desultory, hit-or-miss, indiscriminate, random, spot, unplanned.

Translations

إتِّفاقي، غير متوقَّع

náhodný

tilfældig

planlos willkürlich zufällig

a su aireinconsistente

sattumanvarainensatunnainenumpimähkäinen

au petit bonheur aveuglément

ötletszerűrendszertelen

óskipulegóskipulegtóskipulegurtilviljunarkenndtilviljunarkenndur

casuale fortuito accidentale

neapgalvotaipadarytas kaip pakliūva

nejaušs

tillfällig

偶然偶然的无计划的杂乱无章随意的

haphazard

[ˈhæpˈhæzəd] ADJ

1. (= random) [selection] → al azar; [manner, method] → poco sistemático
the town has developed in a haphazard way → la ciudad ha crecido sin planificación alguna or muy desordenadamente
their approach to the problem has been rather haphazard → han abordado el problema de forma poco sistemática

2. (= careless) [person] → descuidado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

haphazard

[ˌhæpˈhæzə^rd] adj [method, approach] → peu rigoureux/euse

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

haphazard

adj → willkürlich, planlos; the whole thing was very haphazard → das Ganze war ziemlich zufällig or planlos; nothing is haphazard in the universe → im Universum bleibt nichts dem Zufall überlassen; in a haphazard way or fashion → planlos, wahllos

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

haphazard

[ˌhæpˈhæzəd] adj → (fatto/a) a caso or a casaccio; (arrangement) → casuale, fortuito/a

haphazard

(hӕpˈhӕzəd) adjective

depending on chance; without planning or system. a haphazard arrangement.

hapˈhazardly adverb

References in classic literature ?

A well constructed plot, therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these principles.

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She had interminably turned upon her tracks, she had crossed and recrossed her haphazard path till it resembled nothing so much as a puzzling maze of pencilled lines without a meaning.

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When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

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I followed Irving, too, in my later reading, but at haphazard, and with other authors at the same time.

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She began reading the back numbers of the newspaper at haphazard, without any definite idea of what she was looking for.

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It may have happened that a flight of troubles brooding over London, and looking out for Joseph Willet, whom they couldn't find, darted down haphazard on the first young man that caught their fancy, and settled on him instead.

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Before the guns on the Richmond and Kingston line of hills began, there was a fitful cannonade far away in the southwest, due, I believe, to guns being fired haphazard before the black vapour could over- whelm the gunners.

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I add this condition because, if that to which they are related is stated as haphazard and not accurately, the two are not found to be interdependent.

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The only difficulty with the captain was, that he knew nothing of her malady, and that his medical science was of a most haphazard kind.

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Indeed, I felt that, if I began to do anything at all, I should do it in an absent-minded, haphazard sort of way--of that I felt certain.

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Haphazard among the sermons and homilies, the travels, the lives of the Saints, the Fathers, the histories of the church, were old-fashioned novels; and these Philip at last discovered.

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Vasili Andreevich did not pay Nikita the eighty rubles a year such a man was worth, but only about forty, which he gave him haphazard, in small sums, and even that mostly not in cash but in goods from his own shop and at high prices.