Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Resembling a sketch; drawn with little detail.
  • adjective Missing important points or lacking in detail; not thorough.
  • adjective Of questionable authenticity or trustworthiness.
  • adjective Of dubious safety; potentially harmful or dangerous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the form or character of a sketch; suggesting in outline rather than portraying by finished execution: as, a sketchy narrative.
  • Characteristic of a sketch; slight; undetailed; unfinished.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Containing only an outline or rough form; being in the manner of a sketch; incomplete.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Roughly or hastily laid out; intended for later refinement.
  • adjective Resembling a comedy sketch, of sketch quality.
  • adjective slang Of questionable or doubtful quality.
  • adjective slang, of a person Suspected of taking part in illicit or dishonorable dealings.
  • adjective slang, of a person Disturbing or unnerving, often in such a way that others may suspect them of intending physical or sexual harm or harassment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective giving only major points; lacking completeness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sketch +‎ -y

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Examples

  • She gave him an anti-inflammatory called Deremaxx (which I'm pretty sure is the brand of condom they sell in sketchy gas station men's rooms) and told him to take it easy for a week.

    Dogs get old too John Kelly 2010

  • In one particularly interesting example, we see him reconstruct a massive Roman temple, the Temple of Fortune, but in sketchy form, with "how they did it" merging with "how I'd do it."

    Andrea Palladio's influential architecture at National Building Museum Philip Kennicott 2010

  • She gave him an anti-inflammatory called Deremaxx (which I'm pretty sure is the brand of condom they sell in sketchy gas station men's rooms) and told him to take it easy for a week.

    Dogs get old too John Kelly 2010

  • Pretty Little Liars' new guy Caleb has been described as a "sketchy guy with a heart of gold," but after last week's episode it seems he just may be the former.

    Pretty Little Liars' Tyler Blackburn: It Becomes More Clear Who Caleb Is 2011

  • Some of the details of the proposed reforms remain sketchy, and those details are important.

    Ending Welfare as Britain Knows It 2010

  • She gave him an anti-inflammatory called Deremaxx (which I'm pretty sure is the brand of condom they sell in sketchy gas station men's rooms) and told him to take it easy for a week.

    Dogs get old too John Kelly 2010

  • Regulation either requires more cops, which are an expensive kind of work force, or automated systems, which are sketchy from a legal point of view.

    What Causes Traffic Jams? You. - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • As far as details go, they remain sketchy at most.

    Blog De Ganz | Archive | September 2006

  • The details remain sketchy as, by that time, both his mother and grandmother were dead, both having taken their secret to the grave, and Nicholson subsequently had next-to-no contact with his real father.

    Jack Nicholson, Father Bob + Search for 2.0 Truth Ben Barren 2006

  • Much has been said about this critic as a peculiarly powerful teacher, but de Man's influence on academic literary and cultural criticism far exceeds the limits of an identifiable school or clique, and often manifests itself in sketchy and unacknowledged fashion within scholarly work that may not desire (or even know that it has) a filiation to de Manian rhetorical reading.

    Introduction 2005

Comments

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  • used to refer to a person or location of questionable reputation

    March 25, 2008

  • Language Log on sketchy: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2180 (via Nancy Friedman, who notes that Merriam-Webster online is alone in providing the newer meaning).

    June 7, 2010