makeshift

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For decades, small grooves on ancient human teeth were thought to be evidence of deliberate tool use – people cleaning their teeth with sticks or fibers, or easing gum pain with makeshift “toothpicks.”

From Science Daily • Jun. 8, 2026

As if to compensate, on a drizzly Sunday evening in Kyiv, a crowd gathered in the street beneath an apartment building’s third-floor balcony to hear a makeshift string quartet play concertos.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

To get the data centers up and running fast, Musk trucked natural gas turbines to the site, creating his own makeshift power system that didn’t go through the traditional regulatory process for power plants.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

Those sponsored leaflets and postcard mailers that end up as makeshift coasters, mosquito swatters or unread refuse that goes straight from the mailbox into the blue recycle bin.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2026

People in Leningrad also worked frantically to build makeshift defenses.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein