jerry-built
Americanadjective
-
built cheaply and flimsily.
- Synonyms:
- slipshod, shoddy, rickety, ramshackle
-
contrived or developed in a haphazard, unsubstantial fashion, as a project or organization.
Etymology
Origin of jerry-built
1865–70; jerry (as in jerry-build ) + built
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.
In many areas of the island, people are cooking with jerry-built open wood stoves.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
I pictured Roberts speaking from a wooden study in her home, a jerry-built microphone rigged to an old desk.
From Fox News • Sep. 18, 2019
All the parts fit without sounding any less casual or jerry-built.
From New York Times • Aug. 30, 2019
Koumoundouros’ jerry-built sculpture exists betwixt and between, neither one thing nor the other — or, perhaps, both at once.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2019
His role would be to transform Lawrence’s ideas and Edlefsen’s jerry-built apparatus into an accelerator that worked.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
