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spot check

spot check

3 3.6
A short surprise test to see if work meets standards
  • noun
  • /spɑt tʃɛk/
translation icon : inspección aleatoria
  • During the meeting, the manager announced that there would be a spot check of employee performance next week.
  • conduct spot checks
  • do spot checks

Examples

  • As a trained volunteer, I've been asked to initiate spot checks.

  • Yet the data collected in the spot checks show that almost 60 percent of the OCC collected is recyclable.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Well, you know what they say, we need to run a spot check.

  • This is a spot check, sir.

  • We call this a 'spot check'.

  • "Let's do a spot check," Larry says.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Some teach students to assess their own work with supervision and spot checks by the teacher.

    Academic text (1998)
  • We're doing a random spot check to make sure that isn't the case.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Another spot check, Bob?

  • The instructors periodically did spot checks to ensure that the responses were being accurately recorded.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

check
vsspot check
720 1.0

An act of looking at something to make sure it is correct

is unannounced and done at random to test compliance or performance
inspection
vsspot check
  • Formal
356 2.5

A careful official check to see if something meets rules and is safe

is carried out without warning and usually in a random sample

Antonyms

263 1.0

Happening as a usual part of daily life

Work done at a planned time to keep machines working

How Thorough

audit
69 4.4
inspection
  • Formal
356 2.5
check
720 1.0
spot check
3 3.6
to look
1.0

Surface Forms

spot check singular
spot checks plural

Morphology

spot + check

The noun 'spot' (a particular place or moment) combined with 'check' (inspect) yields a straightforward notion of an inspection at a specific spot or occasion, so the idea of a brief or localized inspection is directly derivable from the parts. This noun+verb compound follows common compositional patterns and is likely understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Spot check comes from the idea of looking at one small spot and making a quick check there. Because you inspect only a small place without warning, it now means a short, 'random' inspection to see if things are okay.