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

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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

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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
  • One of the clumsiest parts of Klosterman’s book is his attempts at political punditry.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Feed your head Neagley gets off to a sluggish start, with a workmanlike, rather clumsy first episode largely spent establishing the main characters and central plot—and the writers lean a bit too hard on constant Chicago callbacks.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of clumsy
Adjective
  • Lemmo With this kind of kit, the Lemmo 3 should be up to the task of tackling steep inclines and all manner of rough terrain.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The controls and graphics are pretty rough on GameCube, though.
    — Verge Staff, The Verge, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of rough
Adjective
  • Painfully aware of this, Shawn waited for one of the drunk old men to comment, heckle, make one of those incomprehensible jokes that drew rude laughter from adults.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • By the same token, French-style discretion can be interpreted by American visitors as inattentive and rude.
    — CNN Money, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of rude
Adjective
  • De Brigard would be the first to tell you that his recollection of that day may be flawed.
    — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2026
  • And there is precedent for such a return because Romo is not the first flawed NFL analyst who faced legal troubles and worked again.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of flawed
Adjective
  • The environment surrounding supply chains is constantly changing, which means leaders are constantly evaluating new information and making decisions with imperfect visibility.
    — Seema Phull, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • That makes Stratego an imperfect-information game, just like poker, which computers cracked years ago.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of imperfect

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Cite this Entry

“Jury-rigged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jury-rigged. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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