ramshackle
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ramshackle
1815–25; compare earlier rans(h)ackled, obscurely akin to ransack
Explanation
Is your house in terrible condition? Does the roof leak? Is it half tumbling down? Congratulations! It's ramshackle — in other words, in terrible condition and barely holding together. If you think there's a similarity between a place that's been ransacked and a place that's ramshackle, you'd be right. Ramshackle comes from ransackle, an old 19th century term for "ransack." Although ramshackle is usually intended as a negative term, that's not always the case. Sometimes it can imply a certain cute picturesque quality. Buildings, places, and even some objects such as cars can be considered ramshackle.
Vocabulary lists containing ramshackle
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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Fences
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Echo
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ramshackle houses rehabilitated and sold to first-time buyers.
From New York Times • May 1, 2024
Ramshackle piers with tall grass growing alongside them.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 2, 2018
Ramshackle it may have been but it represented the lifeblood of the game in the region.
From The Guardian • May 18, 2012
Ramshackle and fiercely ambitious at once, “Rock & Roll” fulfills its own dare: this must have been the song Jenny heard on the radio.
From Time • Oct. 24, 2011
I was told that some of the finest buildings were of the Italian order; but I should say that by far the greater number were of the Ramshackle order.
From A Boy's Voyage Round the World by Smiles, Samuel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
