shamble

¹ American  

[sham-buhl] / ˈʃæm bəl /

noun

1. (used with a singular or plural verb) shambles,

   1. a slaughterhouse.

   2. any place of carnage.

   3. any scene of destruction.

      to turn cities into shambles.

   4. any scene, place, or thing in disorder.

      Her desk is a shambles.

2. British Dialect. a butcher's shop or stall.

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shamble ² American  

[sham-buhl] / ˈʃæm bəl /

verb (used without object)

shambles, present (3rd person singular) shambled, past participle, past shambling present participle

1. to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.

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noun

1. a shambling gait.

shamble British  

/ ˈʃæmbəl /

verb

1. (intr) to walk or move along in an awkward or unsteady way

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noun

1. an awkward or unsteady walk

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shambling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• shambling
  present
• shambled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shamble
  simple
• shambles
  simple
• have shambled
  perfect
• has shambled
  perfect
• am shambling
  progressive
• are shambling
  progressive
• is shambling
  progressive
• have been shambling
  perfect progressive
• has been shambling
  perfect progressive

Past

• shambled
  simple
• had shambled
  perfect
• was shambling
  progressive
• were shambling
  progressive
• had been shambling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shamble
  simple
• will have shambled
  perfect
• will be shambling
  progressive
• will have been shambling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of shamble¹

before 900; Middle English shamel, Old English sc ( e ) amel stool, table < Late Latin scamellum, Latin scamillum, diminutive of Latin scamnum bench; compare German Schemel

Origin of shamble²

1675–85; perhaps short for shamble-legs one that walks wide (i.e., as if straddling), reminiscent of the legs of a shamble ¹ (in earlier sense “butcher's table”)

Explanation

When you shamble down the street, you move slowly and shuffle your feet. People who shamble along are usually tired, elderly, or sad. An exhausted hiker might shamble along the final mile of trail after weeks of walking, and your grandfather might be the speediest one in his nursing home, passing up the residents who shamble along with their walkers. A kindergarten teacher might call to her class, "Don't shamble! Pick up your feet and let's go to the library!" Shamble probably comes from the outdated adjective that means "ungainly or awkward."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shamble shambles shambled shambling

When most bands would just sort of shamble onstage in their street clothes, you guys really put on a proper show, a presentation with choreography.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2024

In my review, I praised the conviction of Gunn’s soupy sci-fi spectacle, writing: “Whatever this sweet, surreal sci-fi shamble is that Gunn has created, everyone here seems to believe ardently in it.”

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023

Even as its various subplots shamble on, the novel keeps reminding us about the rising conflation of reality and fiction.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2019

That's sad in some respects but, in another sense, allows the shows’ creators to bring the series to a worthy end as opposed to forcing it to shamble onward long past relevance.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2019

We approached the lonely inn as ragged ghouls shamble up to a gravekeeper’s door.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

Power outages have been a feature of life for years in Cuba, where the electricity generation system, composed mainly of dilapidated Soviet-era plants, is in shambles.

From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026

Behind the scenes, Gibbard’s personal life was in shambles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

"As a still developing country we have limited containment capacity... Our public health sector is in shambles," said a nurse in Nairobi, who asked for anonymity.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

He paid Figg a "substantial" amount of money to double the size of his two-bed property in 2017, but it was instead gutted and left a shambles.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

“She was there alone,” Patrolman Mancuso said finally, trying to save the interview from becoming a shambles.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

A dozen dolphins leaped and spun alongside the boat as Capt. Sean Rubino — known to everyone as Bobby Hill for the cartoon character he resembles — shambled down to chum the water.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2022

In Courtroom C-10, a deputy U.S. marshal pointed to a spot on the floor in front of the judge’s bench, and Offutt shambled into place, chains rattling.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2019

Meanwhile, as Kyoto shambled on, the horizon receded.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 24, 2015

The afternoon before, as Bouchard worked out in the gym, another man, tall and bearish with a soft voice, shambled over to Leclair — what an incredible coincidence to run into her there!

From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2014

He got to his feet and half ran, half shambled out of the barn.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

Still, the KGB was watching, and Miller, shambling, bitter and broke, made a tempting target.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2025

She seemed to be everything that I, a shambling, spit up-stained wreck, was not.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2024

The post, from someone claiming to work at Boeing, described the production of Boeing's 737 planes as "a rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen".

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2024

This was the shambling, full system malfunction of a body and brain that could no longer outrun its own basic need for rest.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2023

Also, I saw only one pair of trousers actually completed during the time that I spent there, although the factory workers were shambling about clutching all sorts of scraps of cloth.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole