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Synonyms

jury-rigged

British  

adjective

  1. nautical set up in a makeshift manner, usually as a result of the loss of regular gear

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He’s jury-rigged a burglar alarm with foam so it makes a clattering sound loud enough for the neighbor’s Ring camera to pick up, he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2025

It is cherry-picked and jury-rigged, co-opted and corrupted, and yet it remains inextricable from American identity — which is precisely why it repeatedly finds its way into our fiction.

From New York Times • Aug. 24, 2023

Some A/Cs, like the one I’m testing, rest on jury-rigged hardware-store brackets; others lean on stacks of wood, or brick, or, in one case, a rock—their owners improvising to keep cool.

From Slate • Aug. 12, 2023

The entire film feels jury-rigged as if every action sequence — and there are too few of them — is designed by an algorithm rather than a human.

From Salon • Jul. 12, 2023

A jury-rigged burner and pot also looked inspired by, if not commandeered from, inmate facilities.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover