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jerry-built 1 of 2

adjective

ˈjer-ē-ˌbilt How to pronounce jerry-built (audio)
Definition of jerry-builtnext
as in clumsy
hastily or roughly constructed my jerry-built wine racks may not look pretty, but they get the job done

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

jerry-built

2 of 2

verb

past tense of jerry-build
as in rebuilt

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerry-built
  1. clumsy
  2. rebuilt
  3. rough
  4. reconstructed
  5. rude
  6. retrofitted
  7. flawed
  8. devised
Adjective
  • Watson is a decade into this league — and quickly playing his way out of it — making the same clumsy mistakes that plagued Shedeur Sanders as a late-round rookie last year.
    — Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Such attempts to touch on the highly personal connections people have to Oasis’s music feel clumsy and forced, especially when juxtaposed with the brothers’ rather anonymous comments.
    — Elena Lazic, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of clumsy
Verb
  • With the town motel still not having been rebuilt, John stays at Hal’s for the night, where feeding his carnivorous alien plant Earl helps the former hero’s demise truly set in.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026
  • The city determined in 2024 that the park was outdated and needed to be completely rebuilt.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of rebuilt
Adjective
  • Kristi Noem bags a massive elk It's been a rough year for ol' Kristi Noem.
    — Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Just in case that gets rough, there’s an EMT in every ceremony, along with two security people, as well as three nurses and one doctor on site at all times.
    — Claire Hoffman, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of rough
Verb
  • What happened—which can be reconstructed from messages that the agents sent one another and from traces of their own internal reasoning, known as chain-of-thought records—makes for gripping reading.
    — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Their defense, which has been slightly reconstructed since last year, is tasked with trying to figure out the Texans, who came up just short against Buffalo in Week 1.
    — OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of reconstructed
Adjective
  • But the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator knows his unit must show urgency and improvement Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders after a rude wake-up call in the season opener.
    — Joaquin Ruiz, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Sanders would go so far as to kick out rude guests, former employees said.
    — Katelyn Umholtz, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of rude
Verb
  • Florida has committed at least $230 million in state contracts from its disaster fund to retrofit and run the former Baker County prison as an immigration detention facility, state contract records reviewed by the Herald/Times show.
    — Claire Heddles, Miami Herald, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Both require a seat at the AI strategy table, and security requirements must be defined at the design phase, not retrofitted after deployment.
    — Neeraj Sabharwal, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of retrofitted
Adjective
  • What is left is the bond of a group of women who survived this beautifully flawed universe together, who leave behind twenty-plus years of laughter, chaos, and guilty pleasures for millions of people.
    — Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026
  • The defense told jurors prosecutors are relying on the salacious affair to prove its case, arguing the decision to charge the former worship leader stemmed from a flawed investigation, rush to judgment and lack of direct evidence.
    — Nicki Brown, CNN Money, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of flawed
Verb
  • In the series, the combat tactic was devised by Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard while commanding the USS Stargazer during the Battle of Maxia.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Designed to support the region’s next generation of creators, the programme has been devised by Netflix in partnership with BIFF, the Asian Film Commissions Network (AFCNet) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
    — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of devised
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

jerry-builds
jerry-built
jerry-rigged
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Cite this Entry

“Jerry-built.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jerry-built. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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