What it means
Shoddy means badly made, cheap-looking, flimsy, or done in a rough, corner-cutting way that probably won't last. You'd use it for tat clothes, dodgy repairs, flimsy furniture, or any bit of work that looks half-baked. It's a plain everyday put-down, not fancy talk.
Usage examples
"Paid a mate’s mate to fix the boiler, and now it’s dripping on the floor. Proper shoddy job, absolute cowboy."
"The new bus shelter at the corner of the high street is shoddy workmanship at its finest, two panels already loose after a fortnight, a roof that drips on the wrong side of the bench, and a council sign reminding us all to report vandalism by phone."
"Bought a shoddy electric kettle from the discount store on the parade, the plastic split along the side after three weeks of normal use, and the warranty claim form asked for receipts that nobody under sixty has ever kept on purpose."
"That market stall jacket looked alright till the zip came off in two days. Proper shoddy, that."
"They've done a shoddy paint job on the flat. Streaks everywhere and they've somehow got gloss on the plug sockets."
Where it comes from
Shoddy first came out of Yorkshire’s wool trade in the early 1800s. It named recycled cloth made by tearing old wool rags back into fibre and spinning them again. The fabric could pass at a glance but wore out fast, so the word drifted into everyday English for anything cheap, badly made, or cut-rate.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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