Illustration of patchwork
- patchwork 2
patchwork
noun
patch·work
ˈpach-ˌwərk 
often attributive
1
: something composed of miscellaneous or incongruous parts : hodgepodge
2
: pieces of cloth of various colors and shapes sewn together to form a covering
also
: something resembling such a covering
a patchwork of fields
Synonyms
- agglomerate
- agglomeration
- alphabet soup
- assortment
- botch
- clutter
- collage
- crazy quilt
- farrago
- gallimaufry
- grab bag
- gumbo
- hash
- hodgepodge
- hotchpotch
- jambalaya
- jumble
- jungle
- litter
- macédoine
- medley
- mélange
- menagerie
- miscellanea
- miscellany
- mishmash
- mixed bag
- montage
- motley
- muddle
- olio
- olla podrida
- omnium-gatherum
- pastiche
- patchwork quilt
- potpourri
- ragbag
- ragout
- rummage
- salad
- salmagundi
- scramble
- shuffle
- smorgasbord
- stew
- tumble
- variety
- welter
Examples of patchwork in a Sentence
The valley is a patchwork of family farms.
A patchwork of laws prevent the land from being developed.
a patchwork system of laws
Recent Examples on the Web
The likes of Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video are subject to a patchwork of schemes across 17 European countries.
—
Jake Kanter, Deadline, 28 Jan. 2025
Days before Biden left office, a federal judge halted those rules – which had only briefly taken effect in a patchwork of states, school districts and colleges amid legal wrangling.
—Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 21 Jan. 2025
Every day, several times a day, a collaborative, grass-roots patchwork of restaurant kitchens, trucks and makeshift catering operations, just like this one, feed the city’s emergency workers and evacuees.
—Tejal Rao, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Ineffective regulations stand to be worse than no regulations at all, with patchwork rules holding the potential to stifle innovation and plateau the technology’s momentum.
—Dave Link, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for patchwork 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Jake Kanter, Deadline, 28 Jan. 2025
Days before Biden left office, a federal judge halted those rules – which had only briefly taken effect in a patchwork of states, school districts and colleges amid legal wrangling.
—Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 21 Jan. 2025
Every day, several times a day, a collaborative, grass-roots patchwork of restaurant kitchens, trucks and makeshift catering operations, just like this one, feed the city’s emergency workers and evacuees.
—Tejal Rao, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Ineffective regulations stand to be worse than no regulations at all, with patchwork rules holding the potential to stifle innovation and plateau the technology’s momentum.
—Dave Link, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for patchwork
Dictionary Entries Near patchwork
Cite this Entry
“Patchwork.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patchwork. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
patchwork
noun
patch·work
ˈpach-ˌwərk
1
: something made up of various parts
2
: pieces of cloth of various colors and shapes sewn together usually in a pattern
patchwork
adjective
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