kludgy


Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to kludgy: kludge, kluge

kludge

or kluge  (klo͞oj)
n. Slang
1. A system, especially a computer system, that is constituted of poorly matched elements or of elements originally intended for other applications.
2. A clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem.

[Probably alteration of mid-20th century American military slang kluge, complex device with a simple function, perhaps of imitative origin or perhaps after the Kluge (paper feeder), a piece of printing equipment first manufactured in 1919 by Brandtjen & Kluge, Inc., and reputedly difficult to repair.]

kludge v.
kludg′y adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

kludgy

(ˈklʌdʒɪ) or

kludgey

adj, kludgier or kludgiest
1. informal awkward or makeshift and poorly designed
2. (Computer Science) informal awkward or makeshift and poorly designed
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive ?
The firm has also been criticized for making beautiful products with kludgy software, a sin in a consumer electronics era that values the marriage of both.
Applications that only run on desktops now seem out-of-date, kludgy, and unsatisfying.
Accommodating this tradition of "local control" has led to disjointed, kludgy efforts to desegregate the region, especially since the most serious segregation exists among districts, not within them.
The program is the brainchild of the Defense Digital Service, an office that's supposed to bring youth, engineering expertise, and tech savvy to the feds' kludgy bureaucracy.
And the MCX retailer consortium, which includes WalMart, is now in trials with its own payments system, but this one is a little kludgy and relies on QR codes, he added.