makeshift
- noun
- /ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft/
- Within a makeshift, canvas-covered workshop, dozens of skilled craftsmen reconstructed and repaired damaged and missing trim, doors, and moldings of the temple, which will eventually reopen as a museum.
Examples
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Then when the rest of the army reached the tiny river, they lay a bunch of tree trunks flat across its banks, forming makeshift bridges.
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In San Marcos, 91 inmates, including five women, were huddled to one side of the adobe makeshift jail that had floor-to-ceiling cracks and threatened to collapse.
Blog text (4) -
I just ripped some pages out of my brother's childhood Bible to use as makeshift rolling papers.
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And they took me across the street to a makeshift MASH Medical Center, and they took me specifically into one tent.
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God cannot be worshipped at makeshift altars.
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And he had set up this sort of makeshift movie studio on a property near La Quinta in California, which is just outside of Palm Springs.
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The New Orleans poor have always lived by the hustle, eking out inadequate wages and suffering chronic underemployment with off-the-books makeshifts in the underground economy.
Academic text (2007) -
The volunteers created a makeshift shelter out of tarps and wooden pallets to protect the families from the rain.
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After the storm destroyed the bridge, drivers used a makeshift detour while construction crews worked to repair it.
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The team built a makeshift stage for the concert using crates and old plywood in the park.
Synonyms
Kept ready to be used if needed
A temporary solution used until a permanent one is found
A temporary thing used instead of what you need
A quick solution used for a short time until a proper fix is found
Antonyms
Compounds
How Temporary
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Makeshift comes from combining make ('to create') and shift ('a quick move' or 'a clever trick'). So a makeshift is a 'quick fix' object you make to use in an emergency or when nothing better is available.