patchily
1
6.6
- adverb
- /ˈpæʧɪli/
- His hair, the color of pewter, is thinning patchily at the crown exactly like Michael Mulvaney's.
- patchily distributed
Examples
-
What a sick joke: a patchily schooled, undisciplined student, who never took a single course in composition and failed grammar in junior high, decides to be a writer at age 30!
Blog text (14) -
But many species seemed patchily distributed with respect to the available habitat.
Academic text (1990) -
The other five threatening processes are much more patchily distributed.
Academic text (2011) -
The soil organic layer of these areas remained largely intact, although small areas (on the order of several square meters) were patchily burned.
Academic text (1997) -
Shrub cover is found on slopes without trees, and the shrubs are distributed patchily, as are grassy or bare surfaces.
Academic text (2002) -
The floor was covered patchily with defunct mattresses and high-mileage sleeping bags, on several of which inert bodies lay muffled.
Fiction book (1999) -
I was being forced to conclude that temperate-zone biologists' assumption of species distributions being predictable from habitat characteristics alone didn't always work in the tropics: many tropical species really were patchily distributed with respect to available habitat.
Academic text (1990) -
In some areas, the flowers bloom patchily, creating colorful spots in the otherwise green landscape.
-
The light from the streetlamps illuminated the park patchily, leaving dark areas between the bright spots.
-
The rainfall this season has fallen patchily, with some regions experiencing heavy downpours while others remain dry.
Synonyms
12
6.4
In a way that is not regular or easy to predict
7
3.5
In a way that makes some parts different from others
4
4.2
Happens at different times and not in a steady way
1
4.9
In an uneven, rough way with sudden stops and starts
1
4.8
In a rough, uneven way with sharp points
1
7.9
In an uneven way that leaves some parts not covered
In an uneven, untidy way that spreads out
Antonyms
How Even
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Patchily comes from patch, which means a 'small piece', as in patchwork, and the ending -ly that turns a word into an adverb. So something done patchily happens in 'patches' or 'spots' rather than evenly.