tinker with

Idioms

Try to repair, work aimlessly or unskillfully with, as in He tinkered with the engine all day but it still wouldn't start. This idiom, first recorded in 1658, alludes to working as a tinker, that is, mending metal utensils.

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.

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

Waiting could pay off for people who want more in their paychecks instead of big refunds — but who don’t want to tinker with their withholdings.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 19, 2025

Italians often get angry when foreigners tinker with their food recipes - pizza with pineapple, cappuccino after midday or carbonara with cream, for example.

From BBC • Aug. 7, 2025

These provisions don’t just tinker with tax law.

From Slate • May 22, 2025

Bolles decided he needed to tinker with the fundamentals of the boat, the mechanics of what made it go—or not go.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023