patchwork
Americannoun
adjective
verb (used with object)
-
to make as patchwork.
She specializes in patchworking skirts.
-
to assemble or connect in making patchwork.
to patchwork neckties into bedspreads.
noun
-
needlework done by sewing pieces of different materials together
-
something, such as a theory, made up of various parts
a patchwork of cribbed ideas
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of patchwork
Vocabulary lists containing patchwork
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.
Empathy, the nuclear fusion of playwriting, is expanded when we’re allowed to take in more of our patchwork selves.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
The result is a patchwork map of residents’ diligence that is hard enough to navigate for the able-bodied but downright treacherous for others.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
The 5th Circuit’s ruling neuters a law that Congress enacted in 2020 to impose nationwide standards on the horse racing industry after the existing state-by-state patchwork failed to prevent equine fatalities and corruption scandals.
From Slate • Jun. 12, 2026
In the 1980s Hockney invented a kind of photo collage he dubbed "joiners" that used slightly different images to produce a patchwork akin to the cubist painting of his hero Pablo Picasso.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
From there I could look out over the basin, a patchwork of expectant fields stretching to Buck’s Peak.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
