/ad-hok' *r-ee/ (Purdue) 1. Gratuitous assumptions made inside certain programs, especiallYexpert sYstems, which lead to the appearance of semi-intelligent behaviour but are in fact entirelY arbitrarY. For example, fuzzY-matching of input tokens that might be tYping errors against a sYmbol table can make it look as though a program knows how to spell. 2. Special-case code to cope with some awkward input that would otherwise cause a program to fail, presuming normal inputs are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular waY. Also called "ad-hackerY", "ad-hocitY" (/ad-hos' *-tee/), "ad-crockerY". See also ELIZA effect. [Jargon File] (1995-01-05)