as in abandoned
showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect
She earns her living buying ramshackle homes, restoring them, and selling them at a profit.
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Recent Examples of ramshackle
Lee’s digging soon brings him face to face with Donald and grieving widow Betty Jo (Jeanne Tripplehorn), as Lee tries to get to the bottom of the city’s latest death (murder?), all while trying to keep his ramshackle business afloat.
—
Nick Caruso, TVLine, 21 Sep. 2025
Refusing sculpture’s decorum, Noah Purifoy turns neighborhood rubble into Johnsian abstraction that predicts his ramshackle desert sculptures.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
But after decades of deferred maintenance, the building—an old Ford dealership—is falling apart like the ramshackle houses of the cowboys who populate McMurtry's books.
—John Burnett, NPR, 4 Sep. 2025
The Extra-Terrestrial, but technology — as Spielberg frames it through Elliott’s eyes — is a kind of ramshackle magic that offers the promise of love and transcendence.
—Jeremy Dauber, HollywoodReporter, 31 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for ramshackle
Nick Caruso, TVLine, 21 Sep. 2025
Refusing sculpture’s decorum, Noah Purifoy turns neighborhood rubble into Johnsian abstraction that predicts his ramshackle desert sculptures.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
But after decades of deferred maintenance, the building—an old Ford dealership—is falling apart like the ramshackle houses of the cowboys who populate McMurtry's books.
—John Burnett, NPR, 4 Sep. 2025
The Extra-Terrestrial, but technology — as Spielberg frames it through Elliott’s eyes — is a kind of ramshackle magic that offers the promise of love and transcendence.
—Jeremy Dauber, HollywoodReporter, 31 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for ramshackle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ramshackle
Adjective
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Thousands of abandoned and derelict vessels around the US pose environmental and navigational challenges.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
12 Aug. 2025
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The 33 towns being considered for this project, which are expected to meet final approval in the coming weeks, are all on the brink of extinction with the number of empty and abandoned houses outnumbering those that are inhabited.—
Barbie Latza Nadeau,
CNN,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Nick is a young father, struggling to make ends meet in his tumbledown home and feeding his family from foodbank donations.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
30 Aug. 2025
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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
Adjective
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Forgetting Derry’s communal traumas is as much a part of the town’s firmament as the scenic canals, the nearby Air Force base where Charlotte’s hubby Leroy (Jovan Adepo) has been newly posted, and the dilapidated house at 29 Neibolt Street.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Oct. 2025
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The dilapidated wooden trim and sagging porticos were spruced up a few years ago after preservationists complained to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but the upstairs windows reveal glimpses of peeling paint, crumbling plaster, and collapsing ceilings inside.—
Kim Velsey,
Curbed,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Everything looks so rickety — this stadium wasn’t built for pandemonium like this.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
15 Aug. 2025
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Griff's was a cozy space inside with a small, rickety wooden patio in the front and a larger one in the back.—
Brianna Griff,
Chron,
13 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces is continuing its operation to take control of Gaza City, the largest urban area in the Gaza Strip, despite international outcry over the deteriorated humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
29 Sep. 2025
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But with the deteriorated state, the possibility remains that the building may soon be auctioned off with no protection against demolition.—
Domenica Bongiovanni,
IndyStar,
21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ramshackle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ramshackle. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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