ramshackle

English

WOTD – 2 June 2007

Etymology

First attested 1830, back-formation from ramshackled, from ransackled, past participle of ransackle (“to ransack”), frequentative of Middle English ransaken (“to pillage”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: rămʹshăk'əl, IPA^(key): /ˈɹæmˌʃæk.əl/

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Adjective

ramshackle (comparative more ramshackle, superlative most ramshackle)

1. In disrepair or disorder; poorly maintained; lacking upkeep, usually of buildings or vehicles.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ramshackle

   They stayed in a ramshackle cabin on the beach.

   He entered the ramshackle bus, and was driven a long distance through very sandy streets to the hotel on the St. Lawrence.

   • 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], OCLC 809623158:

     There came […] my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach.

   • 1914, David Lloyd George

     A ramshackle old empire. (of Austria-Hungary).

   • 2012 September 7, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     So ramshackle was the locals' attempt at defence that, with energetic wingers pouring into the space behind panicked full-backs and centre-halves dizzied by England's movement, it was cruel to behold at times. The contest did not extend beyond the half-hour mark.

2. Badly or carelessly organized.
   • 2022 October 5, David Wallace-Wells, “Progressives Should Rally Around a Clean Energy Construction Boom”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     The alliance that pushed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August was always a somewhat fragile and ramshackle one: Green New Dealers and the coal-state senator Joe Manchin, carbon-capture geeks and environmental justice warriors, all herded together in the sort of big-tent play you get with a 50-50 Senate and one party functionally indifferent on climate.

Translations

in disrepair or disorder

• Bulgarian: разнебитен (bg) (raznebiten), паянтов (bg) (pajantov)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破舊的 (zh), 破旧的 (zh) (pòjiù de), 破敗的 (zh), 破败的 (zh) (pòbài de), 毀壞的 (zh), 毁坏的 (zh) (huǐhuài de)

• Dutch: bouwvallig (nl) (of buildings), gammel (nl)
• Finnish: ränsistynyt (of building), rähjäinen (fi), rämä (of vehicle)
• French: délabré (fr)
• German: baufällig (de) (buildings), klapprig (de), marode (de)
• Hungarian: rozoga (hu), rozzant (hu)
• Italian: diroccante (it), traballante (it), pericolante (it), cadente (it), sgangherato (it) m, malandato (it) m
• Japanese: いやしい (ja) (iyashii)
• Maori: karukaru
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: falleferdig

  Nynorsk: falleferdig

• Persian: لکنتی‎ (fa) (lakanti)
• Polish: rozpadający się m, rozklekotany m
• Portuguese: malcuidado
• Russian: разваливающийся (ru) (razvalivajuščijsja), ве́тхий (ru) (vétxij)
• Ukrainian: напівзруйнований m (napivzrujnovanyj), напіврозвалений m (napivrozvalenyj)

Verb

ramshackle (third-person singular simple present ramshackles, present participle ramshackling, simple past and past participle ramshackled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To ransack.