Jerrybuild

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To assemble a project in a hasty, sloppy manner, especially using cheap, inferior or improvised materials. transitive

    "It was a queer-looking hovel, built of galvanised iron and kerosene-cans and bark and saplings and bamboo, according to no definite plan, and obviously, to knowing eyes, by one of those masters of the craft of jerry-building […]"

  2. 2
    To assemble a structure in such an unsafe manner that it is doomed to collapse.
  3. 3
    To repair a structure in a sloppy or unsafe manner.

Synonyms

All synonyms
jury-rig

Example

More examples

"It was a queer-looking hovel, built of galvanised iron and kerosene-cans and bark and saplings and bamboo, according to no definite plan, and obviously, to knowing eyes, by one of those masters of the craft of jerry-building […]"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.