Definition of patchwork
1 : something composed of miscellaneous or incongruous parts : hodgepodge
2 : pieces of cloth of various colors and shapes sewn together to form a covering; also : something resembling such a covering a patchwork of fields
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Examples of patchwork in a Sentence
The valley is a patchwork of family farms.
A patchwork of laws prevent the land from being developed.
a patchwork system of laws
Recent Examples of patchwork from the Web
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An entire wall houses a colorful patchwork of matchbooks from Kansas City businesses; one corner holds a shrine to Pabst Blue Ribbon beer — his favorite — and another features stacks of paint cans from his grandfather’s business, Minnesota Paints.
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Pants: Dolce & Gabbana leather patchwork pants, $625, Vintage Martini.
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Dutchess County is a patchwork of forests, rolling farmland and thick residential developments that has long been a hotbed of Lyme disease.
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Working in silos, agencies make billions in financial decisions using a patchwork of inconsistent standards, often with little oversight, and the process costs taxpayers.
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Now just imagine the problems that patchwork of municipalities created in the days before 911.
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Then, of course, after the dust clears after the election, the patchwork repairs disappear and everybody gets screwed so that billionaires get their tax cut, which was the whole point of this exercise in the first place.
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The demographic changes have been especially pronounced in metropolitan Toronto, a patchwork of cities and suburban towns bustling with an array of languages and faiths.
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The top 10 grocery retailers plus Amazon control less than half of the market, Blackledge says, and a patchwork of several hundred grocery chains, convenience stores, dollars stores as well as mom and pop stores make up the remainder.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'patchwork.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Illustration of patchwork
First Known Use of patchwork
1634
PATCHWORK Defined for English Language Learners
patchwork
playDefinition of patchwork for English Language Learners
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: something that is made up of different things
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: pieces of cloth of different colors and shapes that are sewn together in a pattern
PATCHWORK Defined for Kids
patchwork
playDefinition of patchwork for Students
1 : pieces of cloth of different colors and shapes sewed together
2 : something made up of different parts The farm is a patchwork of fields.
Learn More about patchwork
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See words that rhyme with patchwork Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for patchwork Spanish Central: Translation of patchwork Nglish: Translation of patchwork for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of patchwork for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about patchwork
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