US /ˈd͡ʒɛɹiˌbɪldɚ/ UK /ˈd͡ʒɛrɪˌbɪldə/
noun Freq #642857

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    a builder who puts up cheap, poorly made buildings, often quickly and for speculative profit

    The jerry-builder used inferior timber and rushed the houses onto the market.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a builder who puts up... shoddy buildercowboy builder
Word family
Derived forms jerry-building
Related forms jerry-builtjerry-buildbuilder

Etymology

Formed from jerry-built + -er. Jerry-built has described cheap, carelessly constructed buildings since the nineteenth century; the origin of jerry in this compound is uncertain.

Topics

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