haphazard
UK/(ˌ)hæpˈhæz.əd//(ˌ)hæpˈhæz.ɚd/
haphazard adjective: random; chaotic; incomplete; not thorough, constant, or consistent.
Adjective
haphazard (comparative more haphazard, superlative most haphazard)
- Random; chaotic; incomplete; not thorough, constant, or consistent.
- Do not make such haphazard changes to the settings; instead, adjust the knobs carefully, a bit at a time.
- The haphazard efforts of a few, working here and there without concert, easily spent themselves in attaining results far short of what were needed.1886, N. H. Egleston, “Arbor-Day”, in Popular Science Monthly, p. 689
- Antonyms:
- systematic
Noun
haphazard (plural haphazards)
- Simple chance, a random accident, luck.
- You should never talk about your own fingers, and haphazards, to genteel people. You should only talk about agreeable subjects as I do.1796, Fanny Burney, Camilla, Or, A Picture of Youth, volume 3, published 1802, page 116
- I consulted my mother, who was punctiliousness itself, and decided I must go Monday, as agreed. I should be with her again on Wednesday. On such haphazards hang men's destinies sometimes.1895, Arthur Conan Doyle, Strange Secrets, page 16
Adverb
haphazard (comparative more haphazard, superlative most haphazard)
- Haphazardly.
- "[...] I suspect that it mostly happens haphazard, though afterwards various noble reasons are invented. About marriage I am cynical.”1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter XXIX, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC
haphazard meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
haphazard in Hindi
- random, chaotic, incomplete
- अनियोजित aniyojit
haphazard in Tamil
- தற்செயலான, தற்செயல், குறிப்பிட்ட நோக்கமின்றி, தாறுமாறாக, கோணல் மாணலாக, சீராகவோ
haphazard in Urdu
- اٹکل, اٹکل پچو, بےسلسلہ, بےتک, حادثہ, اتفاق
haphazard in Malayalam
- ആകസ്മികം, അവിചാരിതം, യാദൃച്ഛികം, അടുക്കും ചിട്ടയുമില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- haphazard in Kannada
- ಅಶಿಸ್ತಿನ, ಗೊತ್ತುಗುರಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಅಡ್ಡಾದಿಡ್ಡಿಯಾದ, ಅವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ
- haphazard in Assamese
- খেলিমেলি khelimeli
- haphazard in Tagalog
- pasilambang
- haphazard in Persian
- هچلهف hačalhaf, اللهبختی allâh-baxti
Examples of haphazard in a sentence
- we assume a gas to be an assemblage of elastic spheres or molecules, flying in straight lines in all directions, with swift haphazard collisions and repulsions, like so many billiard balls.1909, Fielding H. Garrison, “Josiah Willard Gibbs and his relation to modern science”, in Popular Science Monthly, p. 191:
- Economics depends on fickle human nature , its changeable tastes and the varying states of culture and the haphazards of progress .1951, William Russell White, Leadership, volume 2, page 1616:
Synonyms of haphazard
Antonyms
Forms of haphazard
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more haphazard |
| superlative | most haphazard |
| Noun | |
| plural | haphazards |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more haphazard |
| superlative | most haphazard |
Origin of haphazard
From archaic hap (“chance, luck”) + hazard.
Words formed from haphazard
Questions about haphazard
- What does haphazard mean?
- Haphazard means random; chaotic; incomplete; not thorough, constant, or consistent.
- What is haphazard in Hindi?
- Haphazard in Hindi is अनियोजित (aniyojit). See Haphazard meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use haphazard in a sentence?
- we assume a gas to be an assemblage of elastic spheres or molecules, flying in straight lines in all directions, with swift haphazard collisions and repulsions, like so many billiard balls.
- What part of speech is haphazard?
- Haphazard can be an adjective, a noun or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce haphazard?
- Haphazard is pronounced /(ˌ)hæpˈhæz.əd/ (UK).
Words near haphazard in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: haphazard (page history and authors); haphazard (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); haphazard (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); haphazard (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); haphazard (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); খেলিমেলি (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-haphazard.ogg, en-au-haphazard.ogg.
Cite this entry: “haphazard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/haphazard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.