Adjacent Words

makeshift definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the river on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury- rigged fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift hammer" [syn: improvised, jury-rigged, makeshift] n
1: something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency [syn: makeshift, stopgap, make-do]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1766 a usually crude and temporary expedient ; substitute Synonyms: see resource • makeshift adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. temporary; serving for the time being (a makeshift arrangement). --n. a temporary substitute or device.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Makeshift Make"shift`, n. That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient. --James Mill. I am not a model clergyman, only a decent makeshift. --G. Eliot.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Makeshift things are temporary and usually of poor quality, but they are used because there is nothing better available. ...the cardboard boxes and makeshift shelters of the homeless. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Substitute, temporary expedient.

Moby Thesaurus

action, ad hoc, ad hoc measure, ad lib, ad libitum, ad-lib, ad-libbing, adulterated, agent, alternate, alternative, analogy, answer, arrangement, artifice, backup, band-aid, blemished, caught napping, caught off balance, caught short, change, changeling, comparison, contrivance, copy, counterfeit, countermove, coup, course of action, damaged, defective, deficient, demarche, deputy, dernier ressort, device, dodge, double, dummy, effort, emergency, equal, equivalent, erroneous, ersatz, exchange, expediency, expedient, extemporaneous, extemporaneousness, extemporariness, extemporary, extempore, extemporization, extemporized, fake, fallible, faulty, fill-in, found wanting, ghost, ghostwriter, gimmick, haphazard, hasty, imitation, immature, impaired, imperfect, imprecise, impromptu, improvisation, improvisational, improvisatorial, improvise, improvised, improvision, improviso, impure, inaccurate, inadequate, incomplete, inexact, jury-rig, jury-rigged, jury-rigged expedient, lacking, last expedient, last resort, last shift, locum tenens, makeshifty, maneuver, means, measure, mediocre, metaphor, metonymy, mixed, mock, move, next best thing, not perfect, off, off-the-cuff, offhand, partial, patchy, personnel, phony, pinch, pinch hitter, pis aller, playing by ear, precipitate, pro tempore, provisional, proxy, recourse, refuge, relief, replacement, representative, reserve, reserves, resort, resource, ringer, rough-and-ready, second string, secondary, shake-up, shift, short, sign, sketchy, slapdash, snap, solution, spare, spares, stand-in, step, stopgap, stratagem, stroke, stroke of policy, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surprised, surrogate, symbol, synecdoche, tactic, taken aback, taken by surprise, taken unawares, temporary, temporary arrangement, temporary expedient, temporary measure, tentative, third string, token, trick, tripped up, trump, unarranged, unbegun, unconcocted, uncontrived, undeliberated, understudy, undeveloped, undevised, uneven, unfinished, unhatched, unmade, unmanufactured, unorganized, unperfected, unplanned, unpremeditated, unprepared, unprimed, unready, unrehearsed, unsound, unstudied, unthorough, utility, utility player, vicar, vicarious, vice-president, vice-regent, wanting, working hypothesis, working proposition