cobble together
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To assemble or make something quickly and often crudely, using whatever materials or ideas are available at the moment. This verb emphasizes a lack of careful planning or refinement, resulting in a makeshift or temporary solution.
Usage and Examples
- Verb:
- We had to cobble together a meal from the leftovers in the fridge. (We had to quickly assemble a meal using the available leftovers.)
- The team cobbled together a presentation the night before the meeting. (The team hastily prepared a presentation with little time.)
- He cobbled together a shelter from branches and a tarp. (He constructed a rough shelter using available materials.)
Advanced Usage
- "to cobble together a coalition/agreement": To form a group or reach an agreement through hurried and often unstable compromises.
- The politicians managed to cobble together a fragile coalition to govern.
- "to cobble together a theory/explanation": To formulate an idea or reason in an improvised, unsystematic way.
- She cobbled together an explanation that satisfied no one.
Variants and Related Words
- Cobble (verb): Literally, to repair shoes. Figuratively, it can mean to mend or put together in a rough way, forming the basis for the phrasal verb.
- Cobbled (adjective): Describes something assembled in this hasty manner (e.g., ).
Synonyms
- Jerry-rig: To assemble or repair something in a crude or makeshift way.
- Knock together: To make or build something quickly.
- Improvise: To create or perform spontaneously without preparation.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Piece together: To assemble something from many parts, often with more connotation of careful reconstruction from fragments.
- Detectives pieced together the events from witness statements. (This implies more deliberate assembly than cobble together.)
- Throw together: To make or assemble something very quickly and without much thought.
- I can throw together a salad in five minutes. (Similar in haste, but often with less negative connotation than cobble.)
Related Idioms
- Make do and mend: To manage with and repair what you have, which relates to the improvisational spirit of .
- A rough-and-ready solution: A simple, quickly prepared solution that is effective enough for the immediate purpose, often describing the result of .
Verb
- put together hastily