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
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
Instead of rickety outdoor patios with plastic partitions, diners mostly ate in dining rooms.
—Nick Kindelsperger, Chicago Tribune, 28 Dec. 2022
At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat Monday at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
—Rahmat Mirza, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Dec. 2022
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
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Brianna Griff, Chron, 13 Jan. 2023
Instead of rickety outdoor patios with plastic partitions, diners mostly ate in dining rooms.
—Nick Kindelsperger, Chicago Tribune, 28 Dec. 2022
At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat Monday at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
—Rahmat Mirza, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Dec. 2022
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
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rickety
Adjective
-
This Milwaukee program takes dilapidated houses, acquired by the city through property tax foreclosure, and rehabs them for new home buyers.—
Steven Martinez,
jsonline.com,
1 Mar. 2026
-
Such as dilapidated neighborhoods, toxic air, unkept public parks, failing infrastructure, unreliable public transportation and low wages.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Money and resources flowed almost entirely to sports favored by whites—cricket and rugby—while soccer was left mostly to Black South Africans, playing in substandard, ramshackle stadiums in squalid townships.—
Ian Buruma,
New Yorker,
23 Feb. 2026
-
The cacophonous construction in the film opening scene is of a ramshackle company hut for Junior’s whole family to live in — nothing more than a one-room shed, it’s cramped and unequal to the coming rainy season.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
22 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rickety. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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