to cobble together
16
5.2
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
improvisar
- She managed to cobble together a meal from the leftover ingredients in her fridge.
- managed to cobble together
So many people who choose to go to college cobble together savings, loans, financial aid, whatever it takes.
- So many people who choose to go to college cobble together savings, loans, financial aid, whatever it takes.
- I cobbled together a bunch of ideas that ended up being Taoism meets Stoicism basically.
- Frankly, they, they, they were cobbled together and they have vast differences in religion and political outlooks and things like that.
- What we do with ethics is cobble together and kind of eclectic personal viewpoint out of these that you can use.
Examples
-
"Maybe this 'll help," I said, holding up the tape Andy and I had cobbled together.
Fiction book (2002) -
So many people who choose to go to college cobble together savings, loans, financial aid, whatever it takes.
-
So thanks to him, I, I, I was able to sort of cobble together these thoughts.
-
OK, so I cobbled together a tool.
-
I studied Franklin and a few others and began to cobble together a personal program.
Blog text (23) -
Throughout this period, the Social Democratic Party managed to cobble together minority governments with smaller centrist parties.
Academic text (1996) -
For me, that's usually all the excuse I need to cobble together a dessert afterward.
Blog text (21) -
Left to his own devices, he'd managed to cobble together various part-time jobs.
Fiction book (1999) -
I cobbled together a bunch of ideas that ended up being Taoism meets Stoicism basically.
-
Still, al-Maliki was able to preserve his spot by cobbling together a Shiite-led coalition.
Blog text (15)
Synonyms
988
2.8
To make something by joining parts, like a model, plan or team
169
2.9
To put parts together to make something like a machine or toy
22
3.5
Make something quickly without much care or planning
21
5.3
To put things together quickly and roughly using what is available
12
4.1
Put things like lights or a tent together quickly to use for a short time
3
6.0
Make something quickly without caring about details
1
4.9
Make something quickly that will not last long
1
6.5
To gather small amounts of money, food, or a few people with difficulty to do something
To make something quickly and roughly using what is available
To make something quickly and without care using what you have
Make something quickly and carelessly using what you have
To join parts quickly in a careless, temporary way
To get a small amount of something quickly with little money or time
Antonyms
How Well
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
169
2.9
- Informal
16
5.2
- Informal
2
7.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make or assemble quickly and roughly' is directly and compositionally derived from 'cobble' (to put together roughly or improvise) plus 'together' (jointly/assembled). This follows a regular verb + particle/complement pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Cobble together may come from the work of shoemakers who would cobble shoes by joining scraps and patches quickly. So, the phrase means 'to make something quickly and roughly from what you have'.