tumbledown
adjective
tum·ble·down
ˈtəm-bəl-ˈdau̇n 
: dilapidated, ramshackle
a tumbledown house at the edge of town—
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood AndersonSynonyms
Examples of tumbledown in a Sentence
lived alone on a tumbledown farm that had seen better days
Recent Examples on the Web
All except a few dozen hardy souls who formed the historical society and began patching the scars of this tumbledown town.
—Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 22 Mar. 2024
The project is in a tumbledown section of Oildale, situated between an optical lens store and aquatic pet shop.
—Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
The pictures within chronicle a turbulent half decade in the lives of Billingham’s family members, who reside in a tumbledown tower-block apartment in the town of Cradley Heath.
—Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 29 Feb. 2024
For much of recent history, intimate private colleges and universities have thrived here, as much a part of the region’s identity as tumbledown stone walls and scenic coastlines, the local highways bristling with signs signaling that another quintessential New England campus is just an exit away.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Apr. 2023
The drive follows several miles of twisting pavement past tumbledown barns and front lawns doubling as auto graveyards.
—Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
The piles of tumbledown bricks on Long Beach streets took laborious weeks to clear away.
—Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2023
After reluctantly moving into a tumbledown 17th-century English cottage, Milli Proust has created a gorgeously unruly and varied source for her craft.
—Carolyn Asome David Fernández, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022
Low walls of tumbledown stone, kept in place as a monument, mark the outlines of the cottages that once stood here.
—Cathleen O'Grady, The Atlantic, 20 May 2022
Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 22 Mar. 2024
The project is in a tumbledown section of Oildale, situated between an optical lens store and aquatic pet shop.
—Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
The pictures within chronicle a turbulent half decade in the lives of Billingham’s family members, who reside in a tumbledown tower-block apartment in the town of Cradley Heath.
—Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 29 Feb. 2024
For much of recent history, intimate private colleges and universities have thrived here, as much a part of the region’s identity as tumbledown stone walls and scenic coastlines, the local highways bristling with signs signaling that another quintessential New England campus is just an exit away.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Apr. 2023
The drive follows several miles of twisting pavement past tumbledown barns and front lawns doubling as auto graveyards.
—Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
The piles of tumbledown bricks on Long Beach streets took laborious weeks to clear away.
—Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2023
After reluctantly moving into a tumbledown 17th-century English cottage, Milli Proust has created a gorgeously unruly and varied source for her craft.
—Carolyn Asome David Fernández, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022
Low walls of tumbledown stone, kept in place as a monument, mark the outlines of the cottages that once stood here.
—Cathleen O'Grady, The Atlantic, 20 May 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tumbledown.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Tumbledown.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tumbledown. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tumbledown
adjective
tum·ble·down
ˌtəm-bəl-ˌdau̇n
: dilapidated
a tumbledown shack
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