Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Slang A system, especially a computer system, that is constituted of poorly matched elements or of elements originally intended for other applications.
- n. Slang A clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem.
Wiktionary
- n. electronics engineering an improvised device, usually crudely constructed. Typically used to test the validity of a principle before doing a finished design.
- n. general any construction or practice, typically inelegant, designed to solve a problem temporarily or expediently.
- v. to build or use a kludge
WordNet 3.0
- n. a badly assembled collection of parts hastily assembled to serve some particular purpose (often used to refer to computing systems or software that has been badly put together)
Etymologies
- Perhaps from British military slang, possibly based on Scots word kludge or kludgie ("common toilet") or from the German klug ("clever"); possibly related to Polish and Russian klucz ("a key, a hint, a main point") (Wiktionary)
- From ironic use of earlier kluge, smart, clever, from spelling pronunciation of German kluge, from Middle High German kluc, from Middle Low German klōk. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A kludge is a marginal adaptation that compensates for, but does not eliminate fundamental design inefficiencies.”
Kludge: The Science? « PurpleSlog – Awesomeness & Modesty Meets Sexy
“G.W. Turner University of Adelaide As an electrical engineer involved with computers, I'm quite familiar with the word kludge [IX, 2].”
“When it reached a timeline with different physical laws, a kludge was added to make it operate there.”
“In engineering, a kludge is a workaround using unrelated parts cobbled together.”
“For one thing, a separate computer to carry out the switching functions removed the burdensome kludge a kludge is an inelegant solution to a technical problem that could result from adding those functions to the host computer.”
“A sender might agree to fix the problem with a hack or kludge “a kludge is a crock that works,” went one definition, if he had the time.”
“A kludge is a term of derision for either hardware or software that is put together awkwardly, like a "lash-up" or a "jury-rig.”
“Should I have costly gender reassignment surgery, or simply stick with my OEM equipment and work out some sort of inexpensive "kludge"?”
“When they first appeared in Mathematics, their Reality was doubted, they were thought of as something of a cheat, a "kludge" to make things work out.”
“Really the term "kludge" comes to mind with Provisioning Services.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kludge’.
-
Mundane Transformers
Bore that meets the eye.
potamogeton, testator, scrutator, isolator, confiteor, deflator, qwerty, susceptor, champertor, preemptor, disinfector, infractor and 91 more...
-
Babble Tech
Go Babble! Words, if you can call them that, from the world of technology and computers. I'll try to make sure each one is represented by a Wordnik example.
cifsiostat, nfsiostat, mpstat, iostat, pidstat, sar, sysstat, cron, fetchmail, zypper, mysqldump, rsync and 102 more...
-
Will do in a Pinch
Odd items, old or new, that might be employed in a way not originally intended. Like using a chopstick for pinning gathered tresses atop the head.
mangona, dumb-waiter, cundy, font, bénitier, txistu, hungerlin, fainting-fit, glunch, Mexican peso, hammered silver coin, coffee filter and 35 more...
-
New Words
idiopathic, explicate, expiate, pellucid, exogenous, pelagic, manque, salonniere, pedantic, expatiate, cyclamen, peregrination and 83 more...
-
mots justes
No true synonyms, no other word will do.
dysphemism, nyehre, conflate, onomatopœic, galumph, zeitgeist, mercenary, theomeny, git, snarky, sass, smarmy and 46 more...
-
onomatopoeic
warble, quibble, quirk, drudgery, chortle, snicker, galumph, thwart, schlock, whimsy, garble, miffed and 25 more...
-
kad's Words
caliph, sylvain, slither, rebbe, sverdrup, vapid, onus, atavistic, cathexis, acathexis, kludge, lithe and 97 more...
-
zanshin's Words
gargoyle, ennui, paradigm, aardvark, verisimilitude, ghoti, tenacity, nescience, guillemet, squonk, maven, moxie and 210 more...
-
words I love to use
kerfuffle, smarmy, sketchy, grim, wheedle, piffle, prattle, loggerheads, snarky, piddling, nix, caterwaul and 90 more...
-
Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
-
bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1401 more...
-
spicolli's Words
terrapin, ravenous, fuck, sepulchral, garlic, suss, queer, curmudgeon, foodie, intricate, omphalos, subversion and 534 more...
-
Words grabbed from real life conversa...
If I've seen it, heard it, or marvelled at it, I'll stick it here.
cruft, ermine, redundant, shakespearean, camino, marvelous, stupendous, chagrin, shaven, sleek, smug, stillness and 325 more...
-
...another list...
I've no idea where I got this page full of words, but whatever it is, I want to find it again. May have duplicate words from other lists.
bicameral, aphelion, dirigible, parhelion, flocculus, vernier, corticate, oxalis, pandanus, calabash, plumbago, jonquil and 217 more...
-
Tickles my humerus
I find these to be inherently funny.
cow tipping, bumblebee, homoscedasticity, seattle, wagga wagga, booby, pants, guacamole, poodle, fanny pack, nincompoop, svenborgia and 161 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kludge.
garyth123 see kludge at the jargon file
see kludgie Dec 8, 2008
chained_bear ‘An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole’ (Granholm); esp. in Computing, a machine, system, or program that has been improvised or ‘bodged’ together; a hastily improvised and poorly thought-out solution to a fault or ‘bug’. (OED online) Hence, kludgemanship. Feb 6, 2007