• (British) IPA: /ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft/

makeshift (plural makeshifts)

1. A temporary (usually insubstantial) substitution.
   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVII, in Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life, volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829 ↗, book II (Old and Young), page 316 ↗:

     And I am not a model clergyman—only a decent makeshift.

   • Hoboism cannot be cured or prevented by makeshifts or by local measures and efforts, although community interest naturally is vital in dealing with a problem that comes home to every community.

• German: Provisorium, Notlösung, Notbehelf
• Italian: ripiego, improvvisazione
• Portuguese: improviso
• Russian: вре́менная заме́на
• Spanish: apaño, improvisación

makeshift

1. Made to work or suffice; improvised; substituted.

   They used the ledge and a few branches for a makeshift shelter.

• French: de fortune
• German: behelfsmäßig, provisorisch
• Italian: improvvisato, di fortuna, provvisorio, arraffazzonato
• Portuguese: improvisado
• Russian: вре́менный
• Spanish: provisional

makeshift (plural makeshifts)

1. (obsolete) A rogue; a shifty person.

• See also Thesaurus:villain