Tinkerer

//ˈtɪŋk.ɚ.ɚ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Agent noun of tinker; one who tinkers with things. agent, form-of

    "Part of why both books dragged on so long is that Mr. Talese, who once worked for The New York Times, is a perfectionist, an obsessive tinkerer and rewriter, and also a famously meticulous reporter and researcher who spurns devices like composite characters and faked identities."

  2. 2
    a person who enjoys fixing and experimenting with machines and their parts wordnet
  3. 3
    A meddler.
  4. 4
    an unskilled person who tries to fix or mend wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fiddlertinkertinker

Example

More examples

"Evolution is a tinkerer and not an engineer."

Etymology

From tinker + -er.

Related phrases

agent noun

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