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

Jeffrey’s wife, known as Shambles, operates the puppets from behind the curtain, while wearing their 5-year-old daughter, known as Crumbo, in a sling.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026

Portillo has experience with butchery from working at places like The Shambles, and it shows in his excellent housemade chorizo.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 6, 2021

The state of the NHS concerns the Daily Mail, which brands it a "National Health Shambles".

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2013

Another York torchbearer is 34-year-old Luke Young from Dishforth, who will carry the flame along The Shambles.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2012

That's a light-ship on the dangerous shoal called the Shambles, where many a good vessel has gone to pieces.

From A Pair of Blue Eyes by Hardy, Thomas

Related Words

• disarray