ramshackle
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- ramshackleness noun
Etymology
Origin of ramshackle
1815–25; compare earlier rans(h)ackled, obscurely akin to ransack
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.
Summed up by Pavlovic as "jangly guitars and chanted layered vocals", it's both richly harmonic and somewhat ramshackle - born of a decision to embrace spontaneity and leave studio mistakes intact.
From BBC
I had asked him why Rajasthan's amber-hued capital - thriving with tourists drawn to its opulent palaces and majestic forts - looked so ramshackle.
From BBC
The visit has the heavy air of obligation — they don’t see Dad very often — and when he clumsily welcomes them into his ramshackle house, pregnant pauses and pursed lips ensue.
From Los Angeles Times
Deployed at the request of Touadera to strengthen a ramshackle military, Wagner fighters have played a key role in ensuring stability in the strategically-located country.
From Barron's
Mr. Kossakovsky’s career began in the early 1990s with “The Belovs,” a kind of “Greyer Gardens” set in rural, ramshackle Russia.
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.
