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shoddy

Pronunciation: /ˈʃɒd.i/

The English word “shoddy” has 7 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Of poor quality or construction.
  2. Poor; low.
  3. Pretentious, sham, counterfeit.
  4. Ambitious by reason of newly-acquired wealth; nouveau riche.

noun

  1. A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool.
  2. Worthless goods.
  3. Vulgar pretence or sham.

Etymology

* Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble; fragments”), equivalent to shoad + -y; or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building. * The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”), which was not really suitable for (but was sometimes still used for) things such as…

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