shambles

/ (ˈʃæmbəlz) /

noun(functioning as singular or plural)

a place of great disorder: the room was a shambles after the party
a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered

any place of slaughter or carnage
British dialect a row of covered stalls or shops where goods, originally meat, are sold

Origin of shambles

C14 shamble table used by meat vendors, from Old English sceamel stool, from Late Latin scamellum a small bench, from Latin scamnum stool

Words Nearby shambles

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use shambles in a sentence

And as a guarantee of a Third World economy in shambles, Scotland is oil-rich.
Up to a Point: A Free Scotland Would Be a Hilarious Disaster | P. J. O’Rourke | September 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The unity government that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas established with Hamas is now in shambles.
There Is No Moral Equivalent to the Murder of Three Israeli Teenagers | Thane Rosenbaum | July 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
But even the most ardent supporters of negotiations with the Taliban recognize that the so-called peace process is in shambles.
Karzai Gambles with the Taliban | Bill Roggio | January 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Brilliant as he is in the courtroom, his self-destructive personality leaves his personal life in shambles.
Fall-Winter TV Preview: Snap Judgments of 2013–14’s New Shows | Jace Lacob, Kevin Fallon | July 16, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The fatherland is a shambles, Bolivarian socialism has failed, and Comandante Chávez is dead.
Hugo Chávez Dead at 58: Good Riddance! | Michael Moynihan | March 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

He would spare her the sight that must before many moments be spread to view within that shambles.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
But to act, I have come, madame, to liberate from this shambles the gentle lamb you hold here prisoned.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
One might as well talk to driven cattle in the shambles about their ‘sacred mission’ as to women.
The Daughters of Danaus | Mona Caird
They reminded him of the beeves in the shambles of the elder Varro.
The Lion's Brood | Duffield Osborne
Thus the innocent foreign-born readers are led like sheep to the shambles, and Privilege gains another intrenching-tool.
The Old World in the New | Edward Alsworth Ross

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