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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ramshackle
At last official count last year, the population in this hodgepodge of industrial plants, cow fields and ramshackle trailers was 16.
—
Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2026
The home here is a ramshackle London town house where a famed painter, Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen), is spending his final years in a haze of creative stagnation and lingering renown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Back in the sixties, the ramshackle War on Poverty left a memory of futility.
—Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
In a few short years, Prager had carved out an expansive life as a Caribbean kingpin, transforming the ramshackle smuggling operation into a sophisticated, multicrew organization that moved tens of thousands of pounds of pot.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ramshackle
Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2026
The home here is a ramshackle London town house where a famed painter, Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen), is spending his final years in a haze of creative stagnation and lingering renown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Back in the sixties, the ramshackle War on Poverty left a memory of futility.
—Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
In a few short years, Prager had carved out an expansive life as a Caribbean kingpin, transforming the ramshackle smuggling operation into a sophisticated, multicrew organization that moved tens of thousands of pounds of pot.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ramshackle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ramshackle
Adjective
-
Born on May 13, 1958, in California, Sheets appeared on 163 episodes of Storage Wars between 2010 and 2023, vying with other buyers of abandoned and unopened storage lockers being auctioned.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
22 Apr. 2026
-
The city has been overwhelmed in recent years by an influx of abandoned and stray dogs and puppies.—
Alyce McFadden,
San Francisco Chronicle,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
Here cavernous sheet-metal market halls rub shoulders with dilapidated clapboard stores.—
Duncan Madden,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
-
The Urban Institute detailed in 2024 how declining government funding for public spaces had left many dilapidated and underutilized, or privatized and no longer free.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
26 May 2026
Adjective
-
For years, many of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority have embarked on rickety wooden boats to try to reach neighbouring countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, in a bid to flee persecution in Myanmar or overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
15 Apr. 2026
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Your sunnies should be comfortable and durable, not rickety!—
Katie Decker-Jacoby,
StyleCaster,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Crews will spend several days rebuilding and paving each section before moving on to the next, according to a press release, and the project will remove deteriorated pavement before the application of new asphalt.—
Rachel Roberts,
Idaho Statesman,
29 May 2026
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But the challenges are equally steep, ranging from deteriorated infrastructure to legal uncertainty and lingering concerns over contract stability after past nationalizations.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ramshackle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ramshackle. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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