makeshift
Americannoun
adjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of makeshift
First recorded in 1555–65; noun, adj. use of verb phrase make shift
Explanation
If you have to use a garbage can lid as a sled or a set of drapes as a ball gown, then you know what it means to put together a makeshift creation. Something makeshift has been improvised, thrown together with whatever is around. What's interesting about makeshift is the way it can vary in meaning from approval to criticism. Those people trapped on the island in Lost? They came up with some pretty cool makeshift tents and survival ideas. But a government described as makeshift, for example, probably has little going for it.
Vocabulary lists containing makeshift
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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List 1
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A Long Walk to Water
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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.
Food was served in a parking lot and a Turkish restaurant was turned into a makeshift office.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
The international medical charity, widely known by its French initials, MSF, donated tents to serve as makeshift isolation wards.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
About 60 volunteers with clipboards spread out over Hollywood on Tuesday morning to count every tent, makeshift shelter, lived-in vehicle and obviously homeless person.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
The group began conducting flights over the Straits of Florida, searching for makeshift boats carrying Cuban migrants.
From BBC • May 20, 2026
The cave opened into a low, wide room filled on both sides with tents and makeshift abodes of impressive structure: panel walls, blanket doorways.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
