tinkered; tinkering
ˈtiŋ-k(ə-)riŋ 
: to work in the manner of a tinker
especially
: to repair, adjust, or work with something in an unskilled or experimental manner : fiddle
always tinkering with his car
: to repair, adjust, or experiment with
plural tinkers
1
a
: a usually itinerant mender of household utensils
b
: an unskillful mender : bungler
2
chiefly Ireland, sometimes offensive
: romani sense 1
Examples of tinker in a Sentence
Verb
He was tinkering in the garage.
Recent Examples on the Web
Owen Poindexter, New York Times, 20 June 2025
Microsoft’s tinkering with quantum chips, Google’s got its head in the game and scrappy outfits like Rigetti are throwing punches, too.
—Devendra Goyal, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
Another reporter told the story of how her father, back in the fifties, tinkered with his Oldsmobile in a way that it could be turned on by dialing a rotary telephone.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 15 June 2025
With this project, Swift effectively reordered time by simply tinkering with the track list.
—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for tinker
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Verb
Yarbrough has tinkered with his pitch mix to favor the slower, bendier stuff, and it’s been working.
—Owen Poindexter, New York Times, 20 June 2025
Microsoft’s tinkering with quantum chips, Google’s got its head in the game and scrappy outfits like Rigetti are throwing punches, too.
—Devendra Goyal, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
Another reporter told the story of how her father, back in the fifties, tinkered with his Oldsmobile in a way that it could be turned on by dialing a rotary telephone.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 15 June 2025
With this project, Swift effectively reordered time by simply tinkering with the track list.
—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for tinker
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Cite this Entry
“Tinker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tinker. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tinker
1 of 2 noun
tin·ker
ˈtiŋ-kər
: a person who travels around and earns a living by repairing household utensils (as pots and pans)
tinker
2 of 2 verb
tinkered; tinkering
ˈtiŋ-k(ə-)riŋ
: to repair or adjust something in an unskilled or experimental manner
tinkering with his car
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