Definition

The quality or state of being careless or messy in work or appearance.

Example

His sloppiness in completing the project led to many mistakes.

Conversation

Did you see the sloppiness in his presentation yesterday?

Yeah, it was pretty distracting, wasn't it?

I think he could have done a lot better without that sloppiness.

Absolutely! It really took away from his main points.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Root Explanation

Sloppiness is formed from "sloppy" (originating from the dialectal English word 'slop', meaning to spill or overflow) and the suffix "-ness" (meaning the state or quality of). The word describes the state of being messy or careless.

Memory Tip

Think of 'sloppy' as being messy or overflowing, and '-ness' indicates a state. So, sloppiness means the state of being messy.

Visually Confused Words