as in clumsy
hastily or roughly constructed
a jerry-rigged switch to keep the machine in operation until it can be repaired
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Recent Examples of jerry-rigged
Lenovo's software has also matured, so switching between games feels more like playing a game console and less like a laptop jerry-rigged into a handheld.
—
Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025
This repurposing reflects how biological evolution is jerry-rigged, making use of what’s available.
—Philip Ball, Wired News, 8 June 2025
Amanda, introduced only briefly in the first movie, takes center stage as she and a group of troubled (and particularly shouty) people try to fight their way out of a house jerry-rigged with all manner of nasty devices.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 10 May 2025
Ali Al-Ahmed, a dissident Saudi scholar who kept in touch with Sahar, sent me a photograph of an apparatus that the sisters had jerry-rigged to distill fresh water from the sea, and one of a copper hook for catching fish and crabs.
—Heidi Blake, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2024
Content by this author: Doomed From the Start Obamacare is a typically American concoction: a complicated program jerry-rigged to appeal to people with little faith in government.
—Kimberly J. Morgan, Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024
But arguably the most common and effective drones used by both sides have been simple, cheap devices whose parts are available to any consumer with an Amazon account, and jerry-rigged to carry small bombs or shells.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 20 Jan. 2024
To create a tarmac road surface at model chicken scale the team use crushed walnuts mixed with glue and sand while a motorized device that looks like a toilet roll covered in tin foil has been jerry-rigged to create ripples on water.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 16 Dec. 2023
Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025
This repurposing reflects how biological evolution is jerry-rigged, making use of what’s available.
—Philip Ball, Wired News, 8 June 2025
Amanda, introduced only briefly in the first movie, takes center stage as she and a group of troubled (and particularly shouty) people try to fight their way out of a house jerry-rigged with all manner of nasty devices.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 10 May 2025
Ali Al-Ahmed, a dissident Saudi scholar who kept in touch with Sahar, sent me a photograph of an apparatus that the sisters had jerry-rigged to distill fresh water from the sea, and one of a copper hook for catching fish and crabs.
—Heidi Blake, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2024
Content by this author: Doomed From the Start Obamacare is a typically American concoction: a complicated program jerry-rigged to appeal to people with little faith in government.
—Kimberly J. Morgan, Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024
But arguably the most common and effective drones used by both sides have been simple, cheap devices whose parts are available to any consumer with an Amazon account, and jerry-rigged to carry small bombs or shells.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 20 Jan. 2024
To create a tarmac road surface at model chicken scale the team use crushed walnuts mixed with glue and sand while a motorized device that looks like a toilet roll covered in tin foil has been jerry-rigged to create ripples on water.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 16 Dec. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerry-rigged
Adjective
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The rubber sole is also important for clumsy gals like myself.—
Alyssa Grabinski,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Camels seem slow, hippos clumsy, phoenixes unstable, lions lazy.—
Francois Botha,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The two firms are also considering building an oil pipeline and storage facility in Oman to help boost Iraq’s crude exports.—
Matthew Martin,
semafor.com,
15 Sep. 2025
-
That prompted a frustrated Webex engineer, Eric Yuan, to quit and start Zoom, which is why WebEx looks like a crude prototype of what Zoom became.—
Dev Patnaik,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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After their rough start to SEC play, the Razorbacks finished with an 8-10 conference record, good enough to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.—
Michael Harley,
Arkansas Online,
12 Sep. 2025
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Despite its rough appearance, the system helped operators better judge distance and handle tasks more precisely.—
Kapil Kajal,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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These particular coffee-shop customers picked the wrong day to be rude, though.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
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Meanwhile, the Lions give a rude welcome back to Ben Johnson, while the 49ers run over the Saints.—
Vic Tafur,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Without curiosity about how AI reaches its results, employees may blindly accept answers that are flawed.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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Troublingly, Cal Fire’s flawed models systematically underestimate logging emissions and overestimate regrowth, conveniently ignoring how climate change hamstrings regrowth and fuels wildfires that release yet more emissions.—
John P. O’Brien,
Mercury News,
13 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Jerry-rigged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jerry-rigged. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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