as in dilapidated
not strong or stable and likely to break
rickety stairs a rickety old table
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Recent Examples of rickety
One very much hopes that those acres make it through today unscathed, but that seems unlikely, and the state hasn’t yet managed to fix its rickety property-insurance system, which will make recovery harder for many.
—
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2022
Some are too rickety to reliably relocate delicate bottles and glassware without fear of a smashup, others are bereft of functional features, and still others simply don’t look attractive enough to grace your living space.
—Rachel Klein, Popular Mechanics, 16 Sep. 2022
Those who are old enough remember being afraid to ride the rickety wooden roller coaster.
—Timothy Fanning, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Sep. 2022
The underpinnings of the economy, however, still look rickety.
—Nathaniel Taplin, WSJ, 15 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2022
Some are too rickety to reliably relocate delicate bottles and glassware without fear of a smashup, others are bereft of functional features, and still others simply don’t look attractive enough to grace your living space.
—Rachel Klein, Popular Mechanics, 16 Sep. 2022
Those who are old enough remember being afraid to ride the rickety wooden roller coaster.
—Timothy Fanning, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Sep. 2022
The underpinnings of the economy, however, still look rickety.
—Nathaniel Taplin, WSJ, 15 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rickety
Adjective
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Dayna is unemployed and newly single, and an out-of-the-blue opportunity to fix up a dilapidated mansion into an influencer house seems like her ticket to a new life.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
31 Aug. 2025
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Nearly two weeks after San Jose began dismantling its largest homeless encampment, the city is set to open its first-ever safe sleeping site, which will provide tents for dozens of the approximately 370 residents who have lived in dilapidated RVs and squalor at Columbus Park.—
Devan Patel,
Mercury News,
31 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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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
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On a May morning in 2012, a ramshackle walkway at a Southeast Austin apartment complex collapsed.—
Ella McCarthy,
Austin American Statesman,
30 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rickety. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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