Etymologically
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sketchy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 02:57. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈskɛt͡ʃi/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English sketch + -y.[2][3][4][5] Sketch, first recorded in the 1660s, is from Dutch schets or German Skizze, both from Italian schizzo.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Giving only a slight or rough outline, without details; at first of writings and authors: 1805, in the Edinburgh Review.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1811 the word was used of a style in writing or painting, and of a picture made of outline without much detail.[2][3] In 1878 it took on the colloquial sense of flimsy, unsubstantial or imperfect, perhaps through the idea of something unfinished.[3][2] In American slang, from 1915 it could mean brief or minimal,[7] and in American campus slang of the late 1980s and 1990s it meant unstable or strange, untrustworthy or suspicious, and second-rate.[7] The OED dates the sense "dangerous, disreputable or untrustworthy" to 1982, in an Indiana newspaper,[2] and Collins labels it chiefly American slang.[8]

Timeline

  • 1805 – giving only a rough outline, of writings or authors.[2][3][6]
  • 1811 – of a style in writing or painting.[2]
  • 1878 – flimsy, unsubstantial, imperfect.[2][3]
  • 1982 – dangerous, disreputable or untrustworthy.[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang records it in campus slang from 1993.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Giving only a rough outline, without details; like a sketch: The report gave only a sketchy account of the accident.[8][6][2]
  2. Lacking completeness or substance; superficial or slight: Her knowledge of chemistry was sketchy.[8][6]
  3. (informal) Uncertain or unreliable.[8][2]
  4. (slang, chiefly US) Seeming dangerous, disreputable or untrustworthy: a sketchy part of town.[8][2][7]

Word family

  • sketchily
  • sketchiness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins