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

Land is already so scarce across the archipelago -- halfway between Australia and Hawaii -- that the international airport runway doubles as a makeshift sports field.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

About 60 volunteers with clipboards spread out over Hollywood on Tuesday morning to count every tent, makeshift shelter, lived-in vehicle and obviously homeless person.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026

To get to the porch, we gingerly step on a series of mud-soaked planks that serve as a makeshift walkway.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold