patchwork

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A work, such as a blanket, composed of many different colors and shapes, sewn together to make an interesting whole.
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Any kind of creation that makes use of many different aspects to create one whole piece.

   “Bill took all of his poetry and put it together in a folder. It made up a patchwork of his life.”

   “Everything about China is super-sized: The five new parks, which in some cases stitched together an older patchwork of conservation zones, sprawl across more than 88,800 square miles of territory—a protected area more than 25 times the size of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.”

   “The wider North West and Central Region is itself a microcosm of the industry's complexity. Covering the approaches to London Euston, stretching through Birmingham and the West Midlands, and reaching Manchester, Liverpool and beyond, it is a patchwork of overlapping markets, political geographies, and infrastructure types.”

3. (countable, derogatory, uncountable)A state of regulations whose constituents have an opaque scope of application because of their questionable delimitation with regard to each other.

   “Present United States privacy law – despite being made up of a patchwork federal and state constitutional, statutory, and common law – is predominantly based on the ideals of individual control, autonomy, and liberty from governmental intrusion, despite the fact that its inspiration was an idea grounded on the importance of protecting human dignity and an “inviolate personality.””

   “Proponents of an AI moratorium had argued that a patchwork of state and local AI laws is hindering progress in the AI industry and the ability of U.S. firms to compete with China.”

verb

1. (transitive)To create a patchwork from pieces of fabric.
2. (transitive)To assemble from a variety of sources; to cobble together.