patchy

Voters in the election were driven by concerns over the cost of living, rising interest rates and a patchy economic recovery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026

His contract expires in the summer, and the Argentine's patchy injury record had already raised questions over whether it was worth triggering the clause that would commit United to another season.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

The storied company is struggling with a costly shift to electric vehicles at a time of patchy demand while intense Chinese competition eats away at market share.

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026

The toilets are in a "pitiful" state, some without locks; internet access is patchy in classrooms, and a lack of printer ink sometimes leaves handouts unreadable, he added, his friends nodding along.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

He stared at his reflection: mangled ear and patchy fur and empty socket.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

The rain is likely to turn patchier later in the night with a few cloud breaks likely to develop.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

"In some catchments where permafrost has become patchier, weathering-driven carbon uptake was large enough to offset or even exceed river CO2 emissions."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

And returns on investment have been patchier because of its aggressive spending.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

Surveillance outside of farms was even patchier than on them, and bird flu tests have been hard to get.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

Despite being undead, he’d grown into adulthood: his fur patchier, his whiskers more snarled, his eye socket wider.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

The true severity of the problem isn’t always easy to ascertain, because, almost by definition, things tend to be worst in the places where record-keeping is patchiest.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 25, 2015

The Collegiate Chorale lent the music an epic quality; still, its twinkling palette aside, this was the patchiest and least satisfying of the distillations.

From New York Times ● Aug. 14, 2011

It didn’t take long for her to select the most crooked, most pathetic, patchiest pine tree in the bunch.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Closely confined between the Rockies to the right and the Selkirks to the west, the river held undeviatingly to its general northwesterly course, with only the patchiest of flats on either side.

From Down the Columbia by Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman