Shovelware
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A haphazard collection of software assembled in terms of quantity rather than quality. derogatory, slang, uncountable
"Internet vanity broadcasts may be nice for station owner egos or 'WKRP' wannabes without a real transmission tower … But this is essentially audio shovelware, no better than dumping videos or books without interactive elements onto a CD-ROM or the Net."
- 2 Traditional media content, such as printed news reports, republished hastily on the Internet without considering the needs and capabilities of that medium. slang, uncountable
"The importance given to ‘original content’ for instance comes from the general notion that the online newscast is a new medium and therefore requires original content instead of supplying the user with mere copies of its print version (‘shovelware’). Though this may be a valid opinion, the underlying assumption – online newsmedia are just an arm of their respective print, television or radio bodies – can be criticized."
- 3 Video games of low quality derogatory, slang, uncountable
"It also had to make it clear it would not allow publishers to simply port PC titles to the Xbox and pollute the platform with "shovelware.""
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Internet vanity broadcasts may be nice for station owner egos or 'WKRP' wannabes without a real transmission tower … But this is essentially audio shovelware, no better than dumping videos or books without interactive elements onto a CD-ROM or the Net."
Etymology
From shovel + -ware.
More for "shovelware"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.