shambolic

[ sham-bol-ik ]

/ ʃæmˈbɒl ɪk /

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adjective Chiefly British Informal.

very disorganized; messy or confused: I’ve had a shambolic year, the worst ever.

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Origin of shambolic

First recorded in 1960–65; alteration of shambles (in the sense “a disordered place”); probably on the model of symbolic

Words nearby shambolic

Shamash, shamateur, shamba, shamble, shambles, shambolic, shame, shamefaced, shamefast, shameful, shameless

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use shambolic in a sentence

At the same time, the freedom-loving West has, by and large, been shambolic in its floundering efforts at suppressing one variant after another.
We Must Learn From the Failed Global Response to COVID-19|Kevin Rudd|December 29, 2021|Time
Nearby sat Jonathan De Wolf, the shambolic culinary director of the company Skenes founded, Saison Hospitality, and also Ilya Fushman, a physicist and big-time venture capitalist who happened to be Skenes’s regular hunting and fishing buddy.
This Oddball Chef Wants to Serve You Wild Animals|Daniel Duane|April 5, 2021|Outside Online
It may be shambolic, shameless emotional grandstanding, but it is oddly moving, despite the ruthless history edit.
Sorry Putin, the Sochi Opening Ceremony Was Totally Gay|Tim Teeman|February 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Compston opened with a sequence of shows, including one of the brilliant shambolic Manhattan artist, the late Dan Asher.
Joshua Compston Was Once the Wunderkind of the British Art World…and Now He’s Been Practically Forgotten|Anthony Haden-Guest|January 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This is just more symbolic (and shambolic) politics of rage.
Republicans Move to the Center? Nope, They’re Crazier Than Ever|Michael Tomasky|August 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This shambolic mess of a man in Florida may be able to tell Selig whether his testing regimen is working at all.
Major League Baseball Is Right to Punish the Biogenesis Cheats|Michael Brendan Dougherty|June 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In the pantheon of self-destructive, shambolic, rock-star dandies, Johnny Thunders is the ne plus ultra.
Dead Cool: Johnny Thunders|Simon Doonan|February 5, 2010|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for shambolic

shambolic

/ (ʃæmˈbɒlɪk) /

adjective

informal completely disorganized; chaotic

Word Origin for shambolic

C20: irregularly formed from shambles

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