ramshackle
[ram-shak-uh l]
- loosely made or held together; rickety; shaky: a ramshackle house.
Origin of ramshackle
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.comtumbledown, dilapidated, derelict, flimsy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ramshackle
Contemporary Examples
They set out a strong set of “best practices” to modernize and improve the ramshackle way our democracy runs elections.
Passing this unworkable, ramshackle bill is counterproductive or irrelevant to that task.
Houses, some grand, others ramshackle, sit empty, cars in driveways.
Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup Bogged Down in Bureaucracy, Could Take DecadesLennox Samuels
March 11, 2013
The main underlying cause of Election Day chaos remains our ramshackle voter registration system.
Obama Needs to Embrace Voting Reform in 2013 State of the UnionMichael Waldman, Lawrence Norden
February 12, 2013
Perhaps the biggest problem in election administration today is that we are using an outdated, ramshackle registration system.
Historical Examples
His ramshackle dwelling was an eighth of a mile from the Gould-Hamilton place.
Mary-'GustaJoseph C. Lincoln
There was one idle and worthless journeyman in the ramshackle office, and one only.
Despair's Last JourneyDavid Christie Murray
Paul felt as if the ramshackle building had been out at sea.
Despair's Last JourneyDavid Christie Murray
It was a ramshackle affair of four streets and sixteen saloons.
Blazed Trail StoriesStewart Edward White
I looked round, but the ramshackle cart was hidden by the turn of the road.
The WonderJ. D. Beresford
ramshackle
- (esp of buildings) badly constructed or maintained; rickety, shaky, or derelict
Word Origin
C17 ramshackled, from obsolete ransackle to ransack
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for ramshackle
adj.
1809, back-formation from ramshackled, earlier ranshackled (1670s), alteration of ransackled, past participle of ransackle (see ransack). The word seems to have been Scottish.
Reading over this note to an American gentleman, he seemed to take alarm, lest the word ramshackle should be palmed on his country. I take it home willingly, as a Scotticism, and one well applied, as may be afterwards shown. [Robert Gourlay, "General Introduction to a Statistical Account of Upper Canada," London, 1822]
Jamieson's "Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language" (1825) has it as a noun meaning "thoughtless, ignorant fellow."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper