shamble

¹ American  

[sham-buhl] / ˈʃæm bəl /

noun

1. (used with a singular or plural verb) shambles,

   1. a slaughterhouse.

   2. any place of carnage.

   3. any scene of destruction.

      to turn cities into shambles.

   4. any scene, place, or thing in disorder.

      Her desk is a shambles.

2. British Dialect. a butcher's shop or stall.

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shamble ² American  

[sham-buhl] / ˈʃæm bəl /

verb (used without object)

• shambles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shambled,
  past participle,  past
• shambling
  present participle

1. to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.

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noun

1. a shambling gait.

shamble British  

/ ˈʃæmbəl /

verb

1. (intr) to walk or move along in an awkward or unsteady way

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noun

1. an awkward or unsteady walk

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shambling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• shambling
  present
• shambled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shamble
  simple
• shambles
  simple
• have shambled
  perfect
• has shambled
  perfect
• am shambling
  progressive
• are shambling
  progressive
• is shambling
  progressive
• have been shambling
  perfect progressive
• has been shambling
  perfect progressive

Past

• shambled
  simple
• had shambled
  perfect
• was shambling
  progressive
• were shambling
  progressive
• had been shambling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shamble
  simple
• will have shambled
  perfect
• will be shambling
  progressive
• will have been shambling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of shamble¹

before 900; Middle English shamel, Old English sc ( e ) amel stool, table < Late Latin scamellum, Latin scamillum, diminutive of Latin scamnum bench; compare German Schemel

Origin of shamble²

1675–85; perhaps short for shamble-legs one that walks wide (i.e., as if straddling), reminiscent of the legs of a shamble ¹ (in earlier sense “butcher's table”)

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Explanation

When you shamble down the street, you move slowly and shuffle your feet. People who shamble along are usually tired, elderly, or sad. An exhausted hiker might shamble along the final mile of trail after weeks of walking, and your grandfather might be the speediest one in his nursing home, passing up the residents who shamble along with their walkers. A kindergarten teacher might call to her class, "Don't shamble! Pick up your feet and let's go to the library!" Shamble probably comes from the outdated adjective that means "ungainly or awkward."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shamble shambles shambled shambling

When most bands would just sort of shamble onstage in their street clothes, you guys really put on a proper show, a presentation with choreography.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2024

In my review, I praised the conviction of Gunn’s soupy sci-fi spectacle, writing: “Whatever this sweet, surreal sci-fi shamble is that Gunn has created, everyone here seems to believe ardently in it.”

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023

Even as its various subplots shamble on, the novel keeps reminding us about the rising conflation of reality and fiction.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2019

That's sad in some respects but, in another sense, allows the shows’ creators to bring the series to a worthy end as opposed to forcing it to shamble onward long past relevance.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2019

We approached the lonely inn as ragged ghouls shamble up to a gravekeeper’s door.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

In reality, the organisation was a shambles, a member of the Benin delegation told AFP.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

For Mr. Craighead, the British army was his escape from the shambles of his childhood in northern England.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Videos show horrifying, but now predictable, images of entire blocks flattened and basic infrastructure in shambles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

"As a still developing country we have limited containment capacity... Our public health sector is in shambles," said a nurse in Nairobi, who asked for anonymity.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

She makes a complete shambles of the cellar when she gets in.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

But Barbara Slaine was sitting on the ground at a California farm last year when a turkey named Sun shambled over and climbed into her lap.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 14, 2022

A dozen dolphins leaped and spun alongside the boat as Capt. Sean Rubino — known to everyone as Bobby Hill for the cartoon character he resembles — shambled down to chum the water.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2022

Meanwhile, as Kyoto shambled on, the horizon receded.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 24, 2015

The afternoon before, as Bouchard worked out in the gym, another man, tall and bearish with a soft voice, shambled over to Leclair — what an incredible coincidence to run into her there!

From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2014

The smell of dying leaves in the motionless gray morning as he shambled up onto the porch after a night’s fishing, and the full, fine growth in the cedar trees.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

She seemed to be everything that I, a shambling, spit up-stained wreck, was not.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2024

The post, from someone claiming to work at Boeing, described the production of Boeing's 737 planes as "a rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen".

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2024

This was the shambling, full system malfunction of a body and brain that could no longer outrun its own basic need for rest.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2023

A shambling, melancholic truth-teller, with a talent for riling up censors, Levant said things that weren’t supposed to be spoken aloud on national TV.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023

I think, when the wind shuffles them, they are shambling and beautiful as old people.

From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads

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