Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

patchy

[pach-ee] / ˈpætʃ i /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

His contract expires in the summer, and the Argentine's patchy injury record had already raised questions over whether it was worth triggering the clause that would commit United to another season.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

The storied company is struggling with a costly shift to electric vehicles at a time of patchy demand while intense Chinese competition eats away at market share.

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026

Some patchy rain may also spread into north-west England and north Wales, but most of both countries will stay fine with sunny spells after any early mist has cleared.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Monday is likely to be a fairly grey day along with patchy rain and hill fog but brighter spells should develop later in the day for some areas.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

From the doorway, the living room looks almost normal, even though the couch is kind of patchy and faded, and the wallpaper is from the nineties.

From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli

However, the wet weather is expected to be much patchier further south and east with large swathes of England and Wales forecast to see just a few millimetres at most.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

"In some catchments where permafrost has become patchier, weathering-driven carbon uptake was large enough to offset or even exceed river CO2 emissions."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

Things are patchier in the condo market. Realtor.com reports significant price increases in neighborhoods such as the Financial District-adjacent enclave Jackson Square.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

Surveillance outside of farms was even patchier than on them, and bird flu tests have been hard to get.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

Despite being undead, he’d grown into adulthood: his fur patchier, his whiskers more snarled, his eye socket wider.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

The true severity of the problem isn’t always easy to ascertain, because, almost by definition, things tend to be worst in the places where record-keeping is patchiest.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 25, 2015

The Collegiate Chorale lent the music an epic quality; still, its twinkling palette aside, this was the patchiest and least satisfying of the distillations.

From New York Times ● Aug. 14, 2011

It didn’t take long for her to select the most crooked, most pathetic, patchiest pine tree in the bunch.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Closely confined between the Rockies to the right and the Selkirks to the west, the river held undeviatingly to its general northwesterly course, with only the patchiest of flats on either side.

From Down the Columbia by Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman


Vocabulary lists containing patchy

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training