as in to patch (together)
to make or assemble roughly or hastily
we jury-rigged shelves out of cartons and crates until we could afford real furniture
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Recent Examples of jury-rig
Tech behemoths are jury-rigging AI features into their products to avoid being disrupted—but these rollouts, and Apple’s in particular, have been disastrous, giving dangerous health advice, butchering news summaries, and generally crowding and slowing user experiences.
—
Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
And in South Florida, psychiatric nurses have been treating veterans with mental health conditions in a hallway near a bathroom, sitting down with them in a makeshift medical bay jury-rigged out of filing cabinets and a translucent screen.
—Ellen Barry, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Molly Herring, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
But Ukraine’s military engineers have already shown surprising skill in jury-rigging older weapons systems with more modern firepower.
—Lara Jakes, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024
Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
And in South Florida, psychiatric nurses have been treating veterans with mental health conditions in a hallway near a bathroom, sitting down with them in a makeshift medical bay jury-rigged out of filing cabinets and a translucent screen.
—Ellen Barry, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Molly Herring, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2025
Giger jury-rigged a connection between his bike pump and the microscope.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generator’s connection.
—Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2024
But Ukraine’s military engineers have already shown surprising skill in jury-rigging older weapons systems with more modern firepower.
—Lara Jakes, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Jury-rig.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jury-rig. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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