: a heterogeneous mixture : jumble
a hodgepodge of styles
Examples of hodgepodge in a Sentence
the exhibit was a hodgepodge of mediocre art, bad art, and really bad art
Recent Examples on the Web
Kikuchi’s three-year, $63 million deal looks like a bargain relative to the rest of the free-agent pitching market, but the other moves are the usual hodgepodge from a front office that never seems to have a big-picture plan.
—
Chad Jennings, The Athletic, 18 Feb. 2025
For lunch, guests can choose from a seafood hodgepodge, beet and goat salad, burgers, and more.
—Tykesha Burton, Travel + Leisure, 21 Dec. 2024
The big picture: According to Wang, a lack of consistent data across a hodgepodge of existing servicing platforms underlies a generally poor user experience for consumers, servicers and investors.
—Ryan Lawler, Axios, 23 Oct. 2024
Read: The strategy behind Trump’s policy blitz The changes that have stuck (so far) are a hodgepodge of policies, and appear more focused on getting rid of ideas and initiatives the president doesn’t like than on fixing the problems of cost and access that pervade America’s health-care ecosystem.
—Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hodgepodge
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Chad Jennings, The Athletic, 18 Feb. 2025
For lunch, guests can choose from a seafood hodgepodge, beet and goat salad, burgers, and more.
—Tykesha Burton, Travel + Leisure, 21 Dec. 2024
The big picture: According to Wang, a lack of consistent data across a hodgepodge of existing servicing platforms underlies a generally poor user experience for consumers, servicers and investors.
—Ryan Lawler, Axios, 23 Oct. 2024
Read: The strategy behind Trump’s policy blitz The changes that have stuck (so far) are a hodgepodge of policies, and appear more focused on getting rid of ideas and initiatives the president doesn’t like than on fixing the problems of cost and access that pervade America’s health-care ecosystem.
—Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hodgepodge
Articles Related to hodgepodge
Cite this Entry
“Hodgepodge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hodgepodge. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
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Etymology
an altered form of hotchpotch, from Middle English hochepot "mixed stew," derived from early French hochepot (same meaning), from hochier "to shake" and pot "pot, container"
Word Origin
Hodgepodge and its older form hotchpotch are part of a group of words that rhyme all by themselves. Hobnob and willy-nilly are others. In the case of hodgepodge and hotchpotch, the rhyme is not an accident. These words came to English from early French in the form hochepot. The spelling was changed to make the second half of the word rhyme with the first. In French hochepot was a stew of many foods cooked together in a pot. Perhaps the pot was shaken instead of stirred since hochepot was formed from hochier, meaning "to shake," and pot, which had the same meaning in early French as it does in English now. Before long hotchpotch and hodgepodge were used not just for a mixture of foods cooking in a pot but for any mixture of different things.
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