shambles
noun
Did you know?
The story of shambles appears to be a bit of a shambles: somehow, a word meaning "footstool" gave us a word meaning "mess." It all starts with the Latin word scamillum, the diminutive of scamnum, meaning "stool, bench." Modify the spelling and you get the Old English word sceamol, meaning "stool." Alter again to the Middle English word shameles (the plural of schamel), and give it a more specific meaning: "a vendor’s table." Tweak that a little and you arrive at the 15th-century term shambles, meaning "meat market." A century or so takes shambles from "meat market" to "slaughterhouse," then to figurative application as a term referring to a place of terrible slaughter or bloodshed (say, a battlefield). The grim connotations fade over time, but the messiness remains, and voilà: the modern sense of shambles meaning "mess" or "state of great confusion." Transition accomplished!
Examples of shambles in a Sentence
Hwaida Saad, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2023
Now Italian soccer is in shambles while La Liga remains profoundly top-heavy, thanks in part to the imbalanced international broadcasting deals that had dominated it until recently.
—Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 4 Feb. 2023
The rioters made quick work of devastating much of the Supreme Court, leaving the courtroom where justices decide cases in shambles.
—Simon Romero, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2023
In one clip, pulled from a video timestamped after her altercation with police, a woman who appears to be Starer descends the Capitol steps in shambles, no pom-pom beanie in sight.
—Hanna Krueger, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Jan. 2023
See All Example Sentences for shambles
Cite this Entry
“Shambles.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shambles. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
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shambles
singular or plural noun
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