shambles

British  

/ ˈʃæmbəlz /

noun

1. a place of great disorder

   the room was a shambles after the party

2. a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered

3. any place of slaughter or carnage

4. dialect a row of covered stalls or shops where goods, originally meat, are sold

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Etymology

Origin of shambles

C14 shamble table used by meat vendors, from Old English sceamel stool, from Late Latin scamellum a small bench, from Latin scamnum stool

Explanation

Originally a word for a slaughterhouse, shambles now usually means "one heck of a mess," as in "You were supposed to clean your room, but it's still a shambles!" When the job market is in a shambles, people have trouble finding work. When a supermarket is in a shambles, there might be melons and milk spilled all over the floor. If everyone in a classroom is talking and yelling at once, the class is a shambles because no one can hear each other or get any work done. People say things are "in shambles" or "a shambles" — they mean the same thing. However you say it, a shambles is chaotic, disorderly, out of hand, and off the hook — a major, five-alarm mess.

Example Sentences

Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Tortora asks after months in detention and his life in shambles.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026

And Iran’s economy is in shambles in the midst of an ongoing water crisis with no relief in sight.

From Salon • Jan. 11, 2026

That job would be short-lived after he reported Indonesia’s economy was in shambles and the country’s enraged leadership threw him out.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 21, 2025

She makes a complete shambles of the cellar when she gets in.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Related Words

• disarray