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

One, a pediatric ER doctor, wrapped his arm in a makeshift tourniquet and stuffed the wound to staunch the bleeding while others called for help.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 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

It was not coffee but a thin liquid of approximately the same color, and we were grateful to get it as we shuffled double-file past the makeshift field kitchen.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom