Ramshackly

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Characteristic of something ramshackle; in disrepair; appearing ready to collapse; rickety.

    "It is a good thing that Sir John has managed to let the ramshackly old place to any one,” he said."

  2. 2
    Carelessly or loosely constructed. figuratively

    "Mr. Forster twice calls his work "ramshackly." Here and there it is a bit ramshackly, as in the pages on Defoe and in the brief speculations on the future of the novel. But speaking generally, it has order and it has comprehensiveness."

Example

More examples

"It is a good thing that Sir John has managed to let the ramshackly old place to any one,” he said."

Etymology

From ramshackle + -y.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.