Word.ws English Dictionary

fixer-up

fixer-up is the alternative form of fixer-upper.

Meaning of fixer-upper

Noun

fixer-upper (plural fixer-uppers)

  1. (US, informal) A house, property, car, or other object that needs to be fixed up or repaired, often purchased as an investment.
    • 2003, Jay P. DeCima, Investing in Fixer-Uppers: A Complete Guide to Buying Low, Fixing Smart, Adding Value, and Selling (or Renting) High, McGraw-Hill Professional, →ISBN.
  2. (broadly, informal) A potential romantic partner who may need some motivation to improve their personality or habits.
    • Don't be seduced into a relationship with someone who seems to be a "fixer-upper." Attempts at renovating people usually fail.2000, Susan Curtin Kelley, Dale Burg, The Second Time Around
  3. (informal) A person who tinkers or fixes things up; in particular, someone who fixes up houses, properties, etc. as an investment.

Forms of fixer-up

pluralfixer-ups

Questions about fixer-up

What is fixer-up the alternative form of?
Fixer-up is the alternative form of fixer-upper.

Words near fixer-up in the dictionary

  1. fixednesses
  2. fixedst
  3. fixen
  4. fixens
  5. fixer
  6. fixer-up
  7. fixer-upper
  8. fixer-uppers
  9. fixers
  10. fixes
  11. fixes on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fixer-up (page history and authors); fixer-upper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “fixer-up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fixer-up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.