hit-and-miss

[ hit-n-mis ]

/ ˈhɪt nˈmɪs /

sometimes successful or rewarding and sometimes not.

Origin of hit-and-miss

First recorded in 1895–1900

But Germany has learned a great deal during two years of hit-and-miss submarine campaigns.

Germany, The Next Republic? |Carl W. Ackerman
The temperature should be regulated by means of the hit-and-miss ventilators at the floor level.

The Turkish Bath |Robert Owen Allsop
Therefore, a kerosene engine of the hit-and-miss type should be avoided.

Farm Mechanics |Herbert A. Shearer
It had all one common mark; it was all "the church," but the hit-and-miss of it, its lightning change, bewildered him.

John Wesley, Jr. |Dan B. Brummitt

The list is in the highest degree a hit-and-miss selection and the more casual it is, the better for the purpose in hand.

The Transformation of Early Christianity from an Eschatological to a Socialized Movement |Lyford Paterson Edwards

hit-and-miss

informal random; haphazard a hit-and-miss affair; the technique is very hit and miss Also: hit or miss