jury-rig
verb
ju·ry-rig
ˈju̇r-ē-ˌrig 
-ˈrig,
ˈjər-
jury-rigged; jury-rigging; jury-rigs
: to erect, construct, or arrange in a makeshift fashion
Examples of jury-rig in a Sentence
we jury-rigged shelves out of cartons and crates until we could afford real furniture
Recent Examples on the Web
Drones jury-rigged by criminals have damaged homes and and killed children.
—
John Otis, NPR, 16 July 2025
Tech behemoths are jury-rigging AI features into their products to avoid being disrupted—but these rollouts, and Apple’s in particular, have been disastrous, giving dangerous health advice, butchering news summaries, and generally crowding and slowing user experiences.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
And in South Florida, psychiatric nurses have been treating veterans with mental health conditions in a hallway near a bathroom, sitting down with them in a makeshift medical bay jury-rigged out of filing cabinets and a translucent screen.
—Ellen Barry, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Molly Herring, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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John Otis, NPR, 16 July 2025
Tech behemoths are jury-rigging AI features into their products to avoid being disrupted—but these rollouts, and Apple’s in particular, have been disastrous, giving dangerous health advice, butchering news summaries, and generally crowding and slowing user experiences.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
And in South Florida, psychiatric nurses have been treating veterans with mental health conditions in a hallway near a bathroom, sitting down with them in a makeshift medical bay jury-rigged out of filing cabinets and a translucent screen.
—Ellen Barry, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Molly Herring, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Jury-rig.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jury-rig. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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