sloppiness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈslɑpinəs/ UK /ˈslɒpinəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being careless, untidy, or imprecise

The sloppiness of the report cost them the contract.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... carelessness untidiness negligenceslovenlinessmessiness imprecision

Opposites

neatness tidiness precision care

Word family

Related forms slop sloppysloppily

Etymology

From sloppy (from slop, from Old English -sloppe 'slime, mire') plus the native noun suffix -ness.

sloppe Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# sloppiness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈslɑpinəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈslɒpinəs/

## Meanings
1. the quality of being careless, untidy, or imprecise

## Examples
- The sloppiness of the report cost them the contract.

## Synonyms
- carelessness
- untidiness
- negligence
- slovenliness
- messiness
- imprecision

## Antonyms
- neatness
- tidiness
- precision
- care

## Related Forms
- slop
- sloppy
- sloppily

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sloppe

## Etymology
From sloppy (from slop, from Old English -sloppe 'slime, mire') plus the native noun suffix -ness.

## AI Etymology
Sloppiness comes from sloppy (from slop, from Old English -sloppe 'slime, mire') plus the native noun suffix -ness. The historical chain includes Old English sloppe. Older glosses in the chain include "slime, mire", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sloppiness is best read as suffixal formation and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the quality of being careless, untidy, or imprecise". related forms include slop, sloppy, and sloppily. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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