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rickety

[rik-i-tee]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rickety ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, rick·et·i·er, rick·et·i·est.

likely to fall or collapse; shaky: a rickety chair.
feeble in the joints; tottering; infirm: a rickety old man.
old, dilapidated, or in disrepair.
irregular, as motion or action.
affected with or suffering from rickets.
pertaining to or of the nature of rickets.

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RELATED WORDS

dilapidated, shaky, decrepit, broken, flimsy, wobbly, ramshackle, derelict, feeble, fragile, frail, imperfect, infirm, insecure, jerry-built, precarious, rattletrap, rocky, unsteady, wavering

Origin of rickety

First recorded in 1675–85; ricket(s) + -y1
Related formsrick·et·i·ness, noun

Synonyms for rickety

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rickety ON THESAURUS.COM
2. decrepit, frail, withered, unsteady, wobbly.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for rickety

Contemporary Examples of rickety

Historical Examples of rickety

  • The men kept the water under with the pumps, and the sharp jerk, jerk of the rickety handles rang all night.

  • Ashton-Kirk nodded, but before he could reply in words there came a clatter upon the rickety stairs at the far end of the entry.

  • He was a dangerous man to tackle in argument if your knowledge of the subject was rickety.

  • It was really bad weather, and the waves washed clean over the rickety little vessel.

  • With this reply Old Sharon held out his unwashed hand across the rickety ink-splashed table at which he was sitting.

    My Lady's Money

    Wilkie Collins

British Dictionary definitions for rickety

rickety

adjective

(of a structure, piece of furniture, etc) likely to collapse or break; shaky
feeble with age or illness; infirm
relating to, resembling, or afflicted with rickets
Derived Formsricketiness, noun

Word Origin for rickety

C17: from rickets
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for rickety
adj.

"liable to fall down," 1680s, from rickets (with + -y (2)), via notion of "weak, unhealthy." Literal sense is from c.1720 but never common in English. Of material things, from 1799.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper