jury-rigged 1 of 2

adjective

as in clumsy
hastily or roughly constructed a jury-rigged system for supplying the town's water while the main pumping station is being repaired

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

jury-rigged

2 of 2

verb

past tense of jury-rig
as in patched (together)
to make or assemble roughly or hastily we jury-rigged shelves out of cartons and crates until we could afford real furniture

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of jury-rigged
Verb
On the wooden battlements of Tumbleton — designed to look like they were jury-rigged by Ormund’s army — the episode’s director, Andrij Parekh, is going through footage where Roddy’s crew breaks through the town’s defensive walls. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026 Young people today have a real hunger for interesting, honest stuff that doesn’t feel jury-rigged to make a ton of money. — Marta Balaga, Variety, 6 Aug. 2026 The trade between the periphery and the core was jury-rigged to favor the latter. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jury-rigged
  1. clumsy
  2. rough
  3. rude
  4. flawed
  5. imperfect
Adjective
  • Some Latinas are nerds, and some Latinas are quirky, and some of them are goofy and some of them are clumsy.
    — Johanna Ferreira, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • One of the clumsiest parts of Klosterman’s book is his attempts at political punditry.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of clumsy
Adjective
  • Already postponed 24 hours, the invasion proceeded in the face of rough seas, strong winds, and low visibility in order to seize a small window in time of enormous consequence.
    — Marc E. Andersen, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Japanese flight controllers want to avoid powdery soil and rough terrain when the mothership, a four-legged stationary lander, descends to the surface to gather samples in late 2028 or 2029.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of rough
Adjective
  • Were my siblings rude to ignore my plan and take them for themselves?
    — Judith Martin, Sun Sentinel, 14 Oct. 2026
  • An alligator with a sense of humor knocked on a North Carolina woman’s front door in the middle of the night, and the rascal got a rather rude response.
    — Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of rude
Adjective
  • The extra baggage negates the weightlessness, revealing a more flawed and earthbound iteration of the band.
    — Gabriel Szatan, Pitchfork, 18 Oct. 2026
  • But rather than hail this trend as proof of AI’s skyrocketing potential, many in the field — skeptics and boosters alike — take it as evidence that benchmarking itself has become fatally flawed.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of flawed
Adjective
  • This contributes to imperfect fits, product returns, and lower customer satisfaction.
    — Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The Perfect Prescription is Spacemen 3’s masterpiece, an imperfect record made by one of the last holistically perfect groups of the 20th century.
    — Gabriel Szatan, Pitchfork, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of imperfect

Browse Nearby Words

jury-rig
jury-rigged
jury-rigging
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Jury-rigged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jury-rigged. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of jilt

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All