jury-rigged

British  

adjective

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

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Explanation

Something that's jury-rigged is makeshift or thrown together from available parts. Kids love jury-rigged forts, made of blankets and chairs, even though they're not fancy. After a fender bender, you might keep your bumper from dragging on the ground with a jury-rigged solution involving duct tape and a bungee cord. Your brother's jury-rigged skateboard ramp might be less successful. Jury-rigged was originally a nautical term — a jury-rig was a backup mast that sailors would bring on long voyages in case the original mast was damaged. Using the word jury to mean "temporary" or "makeshift" might be rooted in the Latin adjutare, "to aid or help."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jury-rigged

I jury-rigged a heating element for our Kenmore refrigerator’s balky ice-maker water-feed tube.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

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

This is not to be confused with Greater Los Angeles, often called the Southland, five far-flung counties in Southern California jury-rigged into a single cultural unit.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2023

Ultimately the league canceled it altogether, which required jury-rigged adjustments to the playoff structure.

From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2023

Everyone in the neighborhood was so full of their own cleverness at having jury-rigged a solution to the Tap-Out.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

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