rinky-dink

[ring-kee-dingk]

adjective

1. inconsequential, amateurish, or of generally inferior quality; small-time.

   a rinky-dink college; He plays with some rinky-dink team.

2. outmoded or shabby; backward; antiquated.

   a rinky-dink airline.

noun

1. a person or thing that is rinky-dink.

Word History and Origins

Origin of rinky-dink¹

1910–15; rhyming compound (perhaps based on alteration and nasalization of rickety ); ricky-tick

Related Words

• battered 
• broken-down 
• crumbling www.thesaurus.com
• damaged www.thesaurus.com
• decaying www.thesaurus.com
• decrepit 
• derelict 
• dingy 
• in ruins www.thesaurus.com
• neglected www.thesaurus.com
• ramshackle 
• rickety 
• run down 
• seedy 
• shabby 
• unkempt