kludge

noun \ ˈklüj \

variants: or kluge play \ˈklüj, US also and British especially ˈkləj; ˈklü-jē\

|Updated on: 30 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

: a haphazard or makeshift solution to a problem and especially to a computer or programming problem

Just getting your documents into and out of the iPad is a kludge. You must e-mail them back and forth to yourself or sync to your computer using iTunes software.
—Steve Morgenstern

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kludgy

or less commonly kludgey play \ˈklü-jē, US also and British especially ˈklə-\ adjective

See kludge defined for English-language learners

kludge was our Word of the Day on 07/31/2014. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of kludge from the Web

And there are various other fourth-best kludges, ways of wedging a de facto price on carbon into markets.

— david roberts, Vox, "Batteries have a dirty secret," 27 Apr. 2018
Everyone who supports decarbonization would prefer a large and rising carbon price to all these kludges.

— david roberts, Vox, "The latest state to get serious about climate change is ... New Jersey?," 20 Apr. 2018
In Apple’s view, the interference was in consumers’ best interest: a kludge to halt shutdowns caused by outdated lithium-ion electrodes.

— robert hackett, Fortune, "Tech Dissatisfaction, Version 99.0," 23 Jan. 2018
Meant to evoke something sporty, like a jet ski, instead of a lumbering Cessna or a tough-to-fly experimental kludge, the plane is supposed to let anyone who can afford the $139,000 price tag become a barnstormer.

— carl hoffman, WIRED, "This Plane Is Slick as a Sports Car, Portable as a Jet Ski," 7 Oct. 2015

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'kludge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The first recorded use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as: "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole." He further explained that it was derived from the German word klug, meaning "smart" or "witty." Why Granholm included a "d" in his spelling is not known. What we do know is that speakers of American English have agreed to keep it silent, making the vowel pronunciation of kludge reflect the pronunciation of German klug (KLOOK). We can also tell you that not everyone agrees with Granholm on the "d" matter: the spelling "kluge" is also popularly used.