F. D. RooseveltEdith HamiltonJohn Locke
Did you know?
The hap in haphazard comes from an English word that means "happening," as well as "chance or fortune." Hap, in turn, comes from the Old Norse word happ, meaning "good luck." Perhaps it's no accident that hazard also has its own connotations of chance and luck: while it now refers commonly to something that presents danger, at one time it referred to a dice game similar to craps. (The name ultimately comes from the Arabic word al-zahr, meaning "the die.") Haphazard first entered English as a noun meaning "chance" in the 16th century, and soon afterward was being used as an adjective to describe things with no apparent logic or order.
Examples of haphazard in a Sentence
Carlos Aguilar, IndieWire, 8 Mar. 2025
These are professionals at work here, and yet the staging of virtually every kinetic showstopper feels haphazard at best.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Feb. 2025
This is evident in the models styled in suits without shirts or asymmetrical fur elements that feel both haphazard and intentionally crafted.
—Brett F. Braley-Palko, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
Narrative has always felt very natural to me, probably because I was raised in a household of storytellers, and because formal linearity affords me a sense of aesthetic control over my very haphazard, exilic life.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haphazard
Articles Related to haphazard
Cite this Entry
“Haphazard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haphazard. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share