to make a schmutter
- idiom
- Slang
- He completely made a schmutter of the presentation and forgot his lines.
Examples
-
They made a schmutter out of a simple job by working too quickly.
-
She was nervous and made a schmutter of the cake for her guests.
-
Don't make a schmutter of the presentation!
-
She always makes a schmutter when she tries to cook.
-
He made a schmutter of the project by failing to follow the guidelines.
-
During the exam, she made a schmutter of the calculations and lost points.
-
If you rush, you might make a schmutter of your homework again.
Synonyms
850
6.3
To make a mistake that ruins what you are doing
60
9.9
To do something badly and ruin how it turns out
38
6.0
To do something badly and spoil the result
19
6.8
To do something clumsily so it causes mistakes
18
6.4
To make a mistake that ruins something because you are careless
15
3.5
To do something clumsily and make a mistake
14
7.6
To ruin something by making mistakes or doing it badly
6
6.8
To make an embarrassing mistake because you are careless or nervous
5
3.0
To make something untidy, dirty, or not in the right place
4
6.7
Do a job badly and make a mess of it
4
2.1
Make a place messy so things are not in order
2
7.9
To do something badly and ruin how it turns out
2
5.4
To make a mistake especially by forgetting words on stage
1
9.4
To fail at something in a clumsy way
1
9.9
To do something so badly that it fails
1
9.9
Do a job badly so it does not work
Antonyms
How Bad
∞
2.0
- Slang
38
6.0
- Informal
755
2.8
- Informal
5
7.7
15
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
make + a + schmutter
The noun 'schmutter' is not a standard English lexical item and offers no transparent semantic cue; 'make' + article is a productive frame but does not by itself determine the specific sense. Because one constituent is unknown/nonce and the idiomatic meaning 'mess up' is not derivable from the literal parts, a B1 learner who only knows 'make' and 'a' would not predict the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase make a schmutter may come from a Yiddish word like schmutz, which means 'dirt' or 'smear'. Imagine someone smearing dirt on a shirt — they have 'made a schmutter', so the phrase came to mean 'to mess up' or 'to do something badly'.