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
Previous studies on these fascinating, transitioning galaxies were a bit of a hodgepodge.
—
Paul Sutter, Space.com, 25 Apr. 2026
Today’s trivia finishes up May-issue week with a hodgepodge of topics from the magazine.
—Drew Goins, The Atlantic, 24 Apr. 2026
Pictures of the stand filed in court by the city show a hodgepodge of food ingredients, spices, cooking oils, pots, crates, and propane tanks powering a campfire stove.
—Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2026
Canton Village LLCs, which is co-owned by businessman Akrum Sheikh of Orange, is telling town officials that its plan would make the shopping complex more attractive, serve modern consumer needs and resolve the hodgepodge traffic flow that has existed at the property for decades.
—Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 14 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hodgepodge
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Paul Sutter, Space.com, 25 Apr. 2026
Today’s trivia finishes up May-issue week with a hodgepodge of topics from the magazine.
—Drew Goins, The Atlantic, 24 Apr. 2026
Pictures of the stand filed in court by the city show a hodgepodge of food ingredients, spices, cooking oils, pots, crates, and propane tanks powering a campfire stove.
—Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2026
Canton Village LLCs, which is co-owned by businessman Akrum Sheikh of Orange, is telling town officials that its plan would make the shopping complex more attractive, serve modern consumer needs and resolve the hodgepodge traffic flow that has existed at the property for decades.
—Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 14 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hodgepodge
Cite this Entry
“Hodgepodge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hodgepodge. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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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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