rickety

[rik-i-tee]

adjective

ricketier, ricketiest 

1. likely to fall or collapse; shaky.

   a rickety chair.

2. feeble in the joints; tottering; infirm.

   a rickety old man.

   Synonyms: wobbly, unsteady, frail, decrepit

3. old, dilapidated, or in disrepair.

4. irregular, as motion or action.

5. affected with or having rickets.

6. relating to or of the nature of rickets.

rickety

/ ˈrɪkɪtɪ /

adjective

1. (of a structure, piece of furniture, etc) likely to collapse or break; shaky

2. feeble with age or illness; infirm

3. relating to, resembling, or afflicted with rickets

Other Word Forms

• ricketiness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rickety¹

First recorded in 1675–85; ricket(s) + -y ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of rickety¹

C17: from _rickets

Example Sentences

The Brewers’ bullpen was suddenly as rickety as the Dodgers’, and that was with Sasaki just spectating.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A two-story Craftsman ADU in Hollywood — formerly a rickety garage — is designed to provide office space, a gym and housing while preserving a lush garden.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Diners enjoying the sunset at a beach-side restaurant - and the piles of rubbish along the rickety stairs to get there.

Read more on BBC

They slept in rickety shacks, used communal bathrooms and showered in water that “was a very nice shade of brown,” Carter remembered with a laugh.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But as the heap grows taller and each character’s perspective bleeds into the others, “Weapons” becomes rickety, overreliant on conventions like unnecessary, predictable jump scares and plodding dream sequences to hold it up.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• broken 
• decrepit 
• derelict 
• dilapidated 
• flimsy 
• ramshackle 
• shaky 
• wobbly