tumbledown
adjective
tum·ble·down
ˈtəm-bəl-ˈdau̇n 
: dilapidated, ramshackle
a tumbledown house at the edge of town—
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood AndersonExamples of tumbledown in a Sentence
lived alone on a tumbledown farm that had seen better days
Recent Examples on the Web
Opened in 1935 as a barbecue market in a tumbledown former Lebanese grocery near the Fort Worth Stockyards, Joe T.’s now serves up to 2,000 diners at once across seven city blocks of dining and parking.
—Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 June 2025
That technical change increases the likelihood that a congregation of a tumbledown church might raise the money to unlock more housing and at the same time fix up their building — without simply selling it for scrap.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 27 June 2025
Its setting is a tumbledown farm in Kentucky in 1910, the home of the soft-spoken, musically minded Lionel Worthing (Mescal), who has grown up obsessed with regional folk music.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 22 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for tumbledown
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Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 June 2025
That technical change increases the likelihood that a congregation of a tumbledown church might raise the money to unlock more housing and at the same time fix up their building — without simply selling it for scrap.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 27 June 2025
Its setting is a tumbledown farm in Kentucky in 1910, the home of the soft-spoken, musically minded Lionel Worthing (Mescal), who has grown up obsessed with regional folk music.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 22 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for tumbledown
Cite this Entry
“Tumbledown.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tumbledown. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tumbledown
adjective
tum·ble·down
ˌtəm-bəl-ˌdau̇n
: dilapidated
a tumbledown shack
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