different between offhand vs slapdash

English

Alternative forms

• off-hand

Etymology

From Middle English *ofhande, *ofhende, from Old English ofhende (“absent, lost”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *abahandijaz. Equivalent to off- +? hand. Cognate with Icelandic afhendur. Compare onhand.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??f?hænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Adjective

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

1. Without planning or thinking ahead.

2. Careless; without sufficient thought or consideration.

3. Curt, abrupt, unfriendly.

Synonyms

• (without planning): impromptu, extemporaneous, off-the-cuff; see also Thesaurus:impromptu

Translations

See also

• off the top of one's head

Adverb

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

1. Right away, immediately, without thinking about it.
   • Offhand, I'd guess that that's a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
   • 1854, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring:

     We will have no more of this shilly-shallying! Call the Archbishop, and let the Prince and Princess be married offhand!

2. In an offhand (adjective) manner.

Anagrams

• hand off, hand-off, handoff

English

Etymology

slap +? dash. First attested in the late 17th century, meaning "careless".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?slæpdæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Adjective

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

1. Produced or carried out hastily; haphazard; careless.
   • 1989, H. T. Willetts (translator), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (author), August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ?ISBN, page 114:

     They had seen Poland, and that was the sort of slovenly, slapdash place they were used to, but once across the German frontier they found everything—crops, roads, buildings—uncannily different.

   • 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September 2014:

     When you're in the front entrance, get a feel for what's going on. Tours are never timed to coincide with breaks but if there are any children milling about, see what they're up to. If they're on a dutiful errand, for example delivering registers, the school probably encourages a responsible attitude. If they're play-fighting in the corridor without consequence, it tells a less impressive story and could mean a slapdash approach to discipline.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:careless

Translations

Adverb

slapdash (comparative more slapdash, superlative most slapdash)

1. In a hasty or careless manner.
2. Directly, right there; slap-bang.

   Van Eyck signed his portrait of the Arnolfinis slapdash in the center of the painting.

3. With a slap; all at once; slap.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prior to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (in a hasty manner): carelessly, haphazardly, hastily
• (directly): directly

Translations

Verb

slapdash (third-person singular simple present slapdashes, present participle slapdashing, simple past and past participle slapdashed)

1. (colloquial) To apply, or apply something to, in a hasty, careless, or rough manner; to roughcast.

   to slapdash mortar or paint on a wall

   to slapdash a wall