"spray and pray" meaning in English

See spray and pray in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: sprays and prays [present, singular, third-person], spraying and praying [participle, present], sprayed and prayed [participle, past], sprayed and prayed [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|spray<> and pray<>}} spray and pray (third-person singular simple present sprays and prays, present participle spraying and praying, simple past and past participle sprayed and prayed)
  1. (informal) To dispense anything (such as bullets or advertising) in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck. Tags: informal Related terms: fire and forget, hit and hope, set-and-forget, shotgun approach
    Sense id: en-spray_and_pray-en-verb-4i4wbsKs Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sprays and prays",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spraying and praying",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sprayed and prayed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sprayed and prayed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spray<> and pray<>"
      },
      "expansion": "spray and pray (third-person singular simple present sprays and prays, present participle spraying and praying, simple past and past participle sprayed and prayed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dispense anything (such as bullets or advertising) in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck."
      ],
      "id": "en-spray_and_pray-en-verb-4i4wbsKs",
      "links": [
        [
          "dispense",
          "dispense"
        ],
        [
          "bullet",
          "bullet"
        ],
        [
          "advertising",
          "advertising"
        ],
        [
          "uncoordinated",
          "uncoordinated"
        ],
        [
          "target",
          "target"
        ],
        [
          "luck",
          "luck"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To dispense anything (such as bullets or advertising) in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "fire and forget"
        },
        {
          "word": "hit and hope"
        },
        {
          "word": "set-and-forget"
        },
        {
          "word": "shotgun approach"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spray and pray"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sprays and prays",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spraying and praying",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sprayed and prayed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sprayed and prayed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spray<> and pray<>"
      },
      "expansion": "spray and pray (third-person singular simple present sprays and prays, present participle spraying and praying, simple past and past participle sprayed and prayed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fire and forget"
    },
    {
      "word": "hit and hope"
    },
    {
      "word": "set-and-forget"
    },
    {
      "word": "shotgun approach"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dispense anything (such as bullets or advertising) in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dispense",
          "dispense"
        ],
        [
          "bullet",
          "bullet"
        ],
        [
          "advertising",
          "advertising"
        ],
        [
          "uncoordinated",
          "uncoordinated"
        ],
        [
          "target",
          "target"
        ],
        [
          "luck",
          "luck"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To dispense anything (such as bullets or advertising) in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spray and pray"
}

Download raw JSONL data for spray and pray meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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