shambles

British  

/ ˈʃæmbəlz /

noun

1. a place of great disorder

   the room was a shambles after the party

2. a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered

3. any place of slaughter or carnage

4. dialect a row of covered stalls or shops where goods, originally meat, are sold

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Etymology

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

Explanation

Originally a word for a slaughterhouse, shambles now usually means "one heck of a mess," as in "You were supposed to clean your room, but it's still a shambles!" When the job market is in a shambles, people have trouble finding work. When a supermarket is in a shambles, there might be melons and milk spilled all over the floor. If everyone in a classroom is talking and yelling at once, the class is a shambles because no one can hear each other or get any work done. People say things are "in shambles" or "a shambles" — they mean the same thing. However you say it, a shambles is chaotic, disorderly, out of hand, and off the hook — a major, five-alarm mess.

Example Sentences

He said that his life was in shambles.

From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026

It never made any connection with the Spurs players, while a welter of tactical shifts hinted that he was struggling to work out how to get the best out of the shambles he had inherited.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Much of the Chicago public school system is in shambles.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

Then the mad dash home, with tears biting my cheeks, my skin crawling, my stomach in shambles, heading straight for Mom.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Related Words

• disarray