shambles

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“
A place or situation referred to as a shambles is usually a mess, but it is no longer always the bloody mess it once was.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. plural noun A scene or condition of complete disorder or ruin: "The economy was in a shambles” (W. Bruce Lincoln).
  2. plural noun Great clutter or jumble; a total mess: made dinner and left the kitchen a shambles.
  3. plural noun A place or scene of bloodshed or carnage.
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Examples (50)

  • According to the Free Dictionary,A place or situation referred to as a shambles is usually a mess, but it is no longer always the bloody mess it once was.
  • Word History: A place or situation referred to as a shambles is usually a mess, but it is no longer always the bloody mess it once was.
  • No scandal so great as the Signorelli shambles, which is a warning about money power. —  Paid and Loving Eyes - Lovejoy - Jonathan Gash
  • Certainly noises from ACPO tonight suggest there are some senior figures wondering quite how this shambles was allowed to happen. —  Benedict Brogan's political blog
  • The economy is in shambles, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect in prices for next year. —  Southeast Farm Press RSS Feed
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

shambles:   shamble ·  shambled ·  shambling
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English shamel, shambil, place where meat is butchered and sold, from Old English sceamol, table, from Latin scabillum, scamillum, diminutive of scamnum, bench, stool.
 

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