spotty

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

incomplete; of poor or questionable quality

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

Of course, when you think of something spotty, you think of something covered in spots of color, like a dalmation or a leopard.

But the most common us of the word spotty is to describe something that isn’t whole or isn’t very good. If you don’t know a lot of the words on this page, you could say your English is a bit spotty.

Or if you think this lesson isn’t so great, but that it’s kind of useful, you could say it’s spotty. You wouldn’t say that something is spotty if you think it’s really bad. Spotty means that something isn’t good, but there is still some value in it.

Dave Eggers has been one of the most well-known writers in America ever since his 2000 book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. A few years ago, he decided to write the life-story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee.

Like most people, Valentino can’t remember parts of his life very clearly. He also saw a lot of war in his youth and it’s often difficult to remember horrible things.

So when Dave Eggers began talking to Valentino about his past, he discovered that the young man’s memories were spotty. So Eggers filled in the parts Valentino couldn’t remember with fiction. He took spotty memories and made them into a complete, solid story.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“My knowledge of the geography of this area is rather spotty. You might want to ask someone else for directions.”

“His performances can be a little spotty. Parts of them good, but they get dull at times.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	Something that comes like flashes, not very clear. Most of the memories of a car accident are spotty, because you brain has been affected and your memories are incomplete. The memories about dreams are also likely to be spotty. by renato.moura.b
	"His memories were spotty" means that he didn't remember everything well but the fragments of what happened. by Gregory Markaryan
	erratic, uneven by irenevinci
	lacking consistency; "the golfer hit the ball well but his putting was spotty" by morres
	uneven,unconsistent,things like that. by GavinZheng
	lacking consistency or regularity in quality or performance that what the word in that text means and it also means patchy uneven unsteady variable..... by wael_elhlimi
	incosistent by periwinkle.chic
	lacking consistency by babyxiao
	spotty means lacking consistency or uneven by scholas3
	incomplete, not totally correct or valid. by Darlene
	good in some parts, but not in others; not complete by lcmwyc
	Spotty means not clear, not definite. He remember parts but not all by fox234234
	"Spotty" suggests that the memories are not continous and clear. They reveal flashes. by lauraxxz
	vague...blurred.. only of remembering small parts or pieces of a situation by carlos alvarez
	diffuse, vague, irregular, not clear. by m@nuelm@d
	good only in some parts, but not in other parts by masoyama
	- something fragmentary, incomplete; something not consecutive, not successive. "spotty memories" could be those full of gaps or very dim, vague, not vivid. by Medlyashik
	it means that not very much clear but in small pieces. by neelofer
	spotty mean is: not complete or good in same parts but not others by s.g
	vague,poor by simonaputinelu
	He doesn't remeber well only this and those facts by Lennchik
	He only remembered few things by LO
	it means that his memories is not clear and intermittent. by mahadavikia
	spotty means fragmentary or incomplete. by sirk
	He couldn't remember everything. There were white spots in his memory. by immajin

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