tinker
Americannoun
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tinkers
plural
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a mender of pots, kettles, pans, etc., usually an itinerant.
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an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.
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a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades.
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an act or instance of tinkering.
Let me have a tinker at that motor.
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Scot., Irish English.
verb (used without object)
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tinkers,
present (3rd person singular)
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tinkered,
past participle, past
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tinkering
present participle
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to busy oneself with a thing without useful results.
Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.
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to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.
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to do the work of a tinker.
verb (used with object)
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tinkers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tinkered,
past participle, past
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tinkering
present participle
-
to mend as a tinker.
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to repair in an unskillful, clumsy, or makeshift way.
noun
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(esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans
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a clumsy worker
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the act of tinkering
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another name for Gypsy
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informal a mischievous child
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any of several small mackerels that occur off the North American coast of the Atlantic
verb
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to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs
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to mend (pots and pans) as a tinker
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tinkersimple
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tinkerssimple
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have tinkeredperfect
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has tinkeredperfect
-
am tinkeringprogressive
-
are tinkeringprogressive
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is tinkeringprogressive
-
have been tinkeringperfect progressive
-
has been tinkeringperfect progressive
Past
-
tinkeredsimple
-
had tinkeredperfect
-
was tinkeringprogressive
-
were tinkeringprogressive
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had been tinkeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tinker
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English tinkere (noun), syncopated variant of tinekere “worker in tin”
Explanation
When you tinker, you work casually or attempt to fix something, the way you might tinker with your brother's old bike or tinker with the website you're building for fun. As a verb, tinker means to fix (or mess around with) just about anything. For example, your creative writing teacher might ask you to tinker with your most recent short story and add more specific, vivid details. As a noun, tinker refers to a person whose job involves traveling around and fixing things. It's an old-fashioned word, dating from the 13th century, when traveling tinsmith wasn't an uncommon occupation.
Vocabulary lists containing tinker
Milkweed
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The Boy Who Invented TV
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Peter Pan
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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.
See Examples For:
In the past, Newsom has been reluctant to greenlight laws that tinker with the state budget after those fiscal discussions conclude in the first half of the calendar year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
For a long time, I’d watched Paul tinker with the recipe for his perfect relationship.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
The oil giant paid the smaller company $320 million over a decade to tinker with the genetic makeup of algae to try to distill enough oil to make the venture technically viable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
“I’m able to just go out and play baseball as opposed to trying to tinker and fix certain stuff.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
If there had been a massacre the tinker would certainly have heard.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
An engineer tinkers and steadies it so the pilot will have a stable view.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
As fans and pundits begin to predict City's downfall, Guardiola tinkers with his squad before a long winning streak results in his club being crowned Premier League champions.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
With the Western Washington food landscape littered with doughnut shops, Vincent tinkers with different flavors to make his sweets stand out.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2023
Everybody else tinkers around our artistry,’ but actions speak louder than words and there was nothing there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2023
They sit in a circle and watch as Ford tinkers with a keyboard.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
As the production fell further and further behind schedule, Mr. Pallenberg frantically rewrote the ending, blithely confessing that he tinkered around with killing off this or that character as the mood struck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Pep's trademark possession football that goes backwards and sideways is definitely being tinkered with, with City and other leading teams now looking to play forward earlier - something I definitely approve of!
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026
Amorim tinkered his system once more to try and turn the tide, but his substitution of Casemiro left the Brazilian befuddled.
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
He tinkered with a first-floor window, then sat down to supper with two of his children, Sophie and Preston.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
She asked a couple who had been tinkering around for over half-an-hour if they wanted a hint to her mystery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
And finally, they’ll discuss why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s latest market tinkering has everyone chiming in.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
And over time, from their tinkering comes their version of right and good.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Although the unnecessary tinkering didn’t damage her truck, other chatbot advice could have.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
They are both based on the premise that an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
