Meanings
comparative spottier · superlative spottiest
- Having spots; spotted.
- Occurring in non-contiguous positions or locations.
Mobile phone reception in this area tends to be rather spotty.
- Of inconsistent quality.
Near-synonyms: shoddy, iffy
1 more example
Many of the buyers had a spotty credit history.
- Inconsistent: not reliably good, sometimes bad.
Near-synonyms: shoddy, iffy
1 more example
Many of the low-cost accessories (cords, chargers, etc) sold in the dollar store had spotty quality.
plural spotties
- A common New Zealand fish, Notolabrus celidotus
I went fishing today and all I caught were spotties.
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture)
adjectivelacking consistency
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishspotty
- Englishspotty
From Middle English spotty, equivalent to spot + -y.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian петнист, пъпчив
- петнист (petnist)having spots
- пъпчив (păpčiv)having spots
- с неравномерно качество (s neravnomerno kačestvo)of inconsistent quality
Chinese Mandarin 参差的
- 参差的of inconsistent quality
German fleckig, gefleckt
- fleckighaving spots
- gefleckthaving spots
- durchwachsenof inconsistent quality
Hungarian foltos, pettyes
- foltoshaving spots
- pettyeshaving spots
- pöttyöshaving spots
- szeplőshaving spots
- tarkahaving spots
- egyenetlenof inconsistent quality
- ingadozóof inconsistent quality
- hézagosof inconsistent quality
Māori korotiwhatiwha, kōpurepure
- korotiwhatiwhahaving spots
- kōpurepurehaving spots
- tāngahangahaa type of fish
- tāngāngāa type of fish
- pākirikiria type of fish
- paekirikiria type of fish
- paketia type of fish
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with spotty
All rhymes →Cite this entry
spotty. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spotty
“spotty.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spotty. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spotty,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spotty.
Source: spotty on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.