Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Ramshackle |
RamshackleAdjective1. In deplorable condition; "a street of bedraggled tenements"; "a broken-down fence"; "a ramshackle old pier"; "a tumble-down shack". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "ramshackle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1856. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | RAMSHACKLE, adj. Pertaining to a certain order of architecture, otherwise known as the Normal American. Most of the public buildings of the United States are of the Ramshackle order, though some of our earlier architects preferred the Ironic. Recent additions to the White House in Washington are Theo-Doric, the ecclesiastic order of the Dorians. They are exceedingly fine and cost one hundred dollars a brick. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Language | Appearing as if ready to collapse. . . carelessly or loosely constructed. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: RamshackleSynonyms: bedraggled (adj), broken-down (adj), dilapidated (adj), tatterdemalion (adj), tumble-down (adj), unsound (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Danger | Tottering; unstable, unsteady; shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged; helpless, guideless; in a bad way; reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity; trembling in the balance; nodding to its fall; (destruction). threatening; ominous, illomened; alarming; (fear); explosive. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Ramshackle |
| English words defined with "ramshackle": antediluvian, antiquated, archaic ♦ bedraggled, broken-down ♦ dilapidated ♦ tatterdemalion, tumble-down ♦ unsound. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Ramshackle House (1924) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Ramshackle" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Ramshackle" is used about 135 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 135 | 27,360 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "ramshackle": ramshackle house ♦ ramshackle old car ♦ ramshackle vehicle. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "ramshackle": ramshackle-down. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
ramshackle | 8 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "ramshackle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | karakatinë (dump, hovel, jalopy, rattletrap), i shpartalluar, i shkatërruar (bombed out, broken, desolate, smitten, tumble down, uncreated, unstuck), i shkallmuar, i rrënuar (decrepit, desolate, dilapidated, disreputable, effete, goner, impoverished, lost, tumble down, tumbledown, up the spout), i grisur (decrepit, dilapidated, infirm, lacerate, rickety, threadbare). (various references) | |
Arabic | متداع للسقوط (decrepit, shaky), عربة من الطراز القديم, آيل للسقوط (rickety). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разнебитен (beaten up, broken down, crank, cranky, crazy, decrepit, dilapidated, raddle, rickety, shaky, unstrung), несолиден (flimsy, jerry-build, unsubstantial), порутен (dilapidated, ruined, run down, tumble down), паянтов (flimsy, frame-build, jerry-build, pasteboard). (various references) | |
Chinese | 摇晃 (Dangle, Dangled, Dangling, shaky, swage, Swaging, wobbling). (various references) | |
Czech | zchátralý (decrepit, derelict, dilapidated, moth-eaten), na spadnutí (decrepit, jerry built, tumble down). (various references) | |
Farsi | متزلزل (Giddy, Insecure, Seismic, Shaky, Unstable), ناپایدار (Changeable, Impermanent, Transient, Transitory), لکنتی , شل (Baggy, Knockkneed, Lax, Limp, Loose, Slack), بدخلق (Cantankerous, Crosspatch, Dyspeptic, Grouchy, Gruff, Grumpy, Moody, Ornery, Rowdyish). (various references) | |
Finnish | rämä (rickety old), hatara (flimsy, loose, poorly constructed, unsubstantial, vague). (various references) | |
French | délabré. (various references) | |
German | baufällig (decayed, decrepit, derelict, dilapidated, haywire, in a state of disrepair, lapsed, rickety, tumble down, tumbledown). (various references) | |
Greek | ερειπωμένοσ, ετοιμόρροποσ (crumbly, decrepit, derelict, floppy, groggy, tottery, tumble down). (various references) | |
Hebrew | רופף (flimsy, precarious, rickety, shaky, unstable, wonky), רעוע (breaking, dilapidated, rickety, run down, shaky, shattering, tumble down, unsound). (various references) | |
Hungarian | rozzant (dicky, dilapidated), rozoga (crazy, Dickey, dicky, dilapidated, rattletrap, rickety, shaky, tumble down, tumble-down, wonky), düledező (crazy, decaying, dilapidated, ruinous, shaky, tumble-down). (various references) | |
Indonesian | bobrok (dilapidated, rotten, tumbledown). (various references) | |
Italian | sgangherato (rickety, wild), decrepito (decayed, decrepit, dilapidated, lapsed, rickety, worn out). (various references) | |
Manx | tholtanagh (broken down, crumbling, crumbling of house, delapidated, falling, ruin, tumble-down). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | amshackleray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | periclitante, em ruínas (dilapidated, ruinous, tumbledown, wrecked), desmoronado (broken down), desmantelado, decrépito (crazy, decayed, decrepit, dilapidated, Gage, lapsed, rickety, worn out). (various references) | |
Romanian | ofticos (consumptive, lank, lunger, patient, raw boned, scanty, wasted, weak), dãrãpãnat (dilapidated, ruined, rundown, shattered, tumble down), şubred (delicate, disorderly, feeble, flimsy, frail, insecure, rocky, shaky, unstable, weak). (various references) | |
Russian | ветхий (decrepit, dilapidated). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | trošan (dilapidated, friable, ruinous, tumble down, tumbledown), oronuo (decrepit, feeble, flimsy, lapsed). (various references) | |
Spanish | tambaleante (rickety, shaky, staggering, tottering, tottery, wobbly), desvencijado (falling apart, rattletrap, rickety), destartalado (tacky). (various references) | |
Swedish | fallfärdig (decrepit, dilapidated, run down, tumbledown). (various references) | |
Turkish | yıkılmak üzere, köhne (effete, fossil, fusty, musty, old, ratty, rickety, tumbledown, worn), harap (creaky, desolate, devastated, dilapidated, ratty, ruined, ruinous, waste, wrack and ruin). (various references) | |
Ukranian | кволий (ailing, bedrid, crocky, dicky, feeble, fey, languid, nerveless, powerless, puny, silly, spindly, washy, weakly), неотесаний (backwoods, barbaric, bearish, chuffy, crude, home-bred, homely, oafish, woolly, wooly), ненадійний (chancy, faithless, fallible, incalculable, insecure, precarious, questionable, shifty, tickle, treacherous, trustless, truthless, unassured, unreliable, unsafe, unsure, untrustworthy, wacky, whacky), напівзруйнований. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xiêu vẹo (dilapidated, tumbledown), đổ nát (decrepit, dilapidated). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Ramshackle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ramshackled, ramshacle, ransackly, ranshackle. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "ramshackle" (pronounced ra"msha'kul) |
| 4 | -a' k u l | tabernacle. |
| 3 | -k u l | acoustical, aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, alphabetical, analytical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, article, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, barnacle, biblical, bicycle, bifocal, biochemical, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, brickle, buckle, cackle, categorical, cervical, chemical, Chronicle, chronological, chuckle, circle, classical, clavicle, clerical, clinical, comical, commonsensical, conical, coracle, cortical, crackle, critical, cubicle, cuticle, cycle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, debacle, dermatological, diabolical, diacritical, dialectical, domical, ducal, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electrochemical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encircle, encyclical, epidemiological, epochal, equivocal, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, etymological, evangelical, fanatical, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geophysical, geopolitical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, graphical, gynecological, hackle, heckle, helical, heretical, heterocercal, hierarchical, historical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypercritical, hypocritical, hypothetical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, impractical, inimical, ironical, jackal, knuckle, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, local, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, maniacal, mathematical, matriarchal, mechanical, medical, meikle, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, meteorological, methodical, methodological, metrical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, morphological, motorcycle, muckle, musical, mystical, mythical, mythological, nautical, neoclassical, neurological, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, numerical, obstacle, ontological, optical, Oracle, oratorical, ornithological, paradoxical, particle, pathological, patriarchal, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, photochemical, physical, physiological, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, popsicle, practical, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, pumpernickel, puritanical, quizzical, rabbinical, radical, radiological, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, rhetorical, ruckle, runkle, sabbatical, satirical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, sociological, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, spherical, sprinkle, statistical, stereotypical, stickle, strategical, suckle, surgical, symmetrical, tackle, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, tentacle, testicle, theatrical, theological, theoretical, tickle, tinkle, topical, toxicological, trickle, tricycle, tropical, twinkle, typical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncle, uncritical, uneconomical, unequivocal, unethical, unicycle, unshackle, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, vocal, whimsical, Winkle, wrinkle, zoological. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-e-h-k-l-m-r-s" | |
-2 letters: caramels, ceramals, hacklers, marchesa, shackler. | |
-3 letters: calkers, cameral, cameras, caramel, ceramal, chakras, charkas, chasmal, clasher, hackers, hackler, hackles, lackers, larches, lashkar, mackles, marcels, marches, marshal, mesarch, scalare, schmear, seamark, shackle, slacker, smacker. | |
-4 letters: akelas, alarms, almahs, almehs, arches, arecas, ashlar, ashler, ashram, caesar, calash, calesa, calker, calmer, camels, camera, carles, chakra, chalks, charas, chares, charka, charks, charms, chaser, chelas, clears, clerks, craals, crakes, creaks, creams, eschar, haceks, hacker, hackle, haemal, halers, halmas, hamals, harems, kalams, karmas, kasher, kraals, lacers, laches, lacker, lahars, lakers, lascar, lasher, macers, maches, mackle, macles, makars, makers, malars, marcel, masher, masker, mescal, rackle, rascal, realms, sachem, sacker, sacral, samech, samekh, scalar, scaler, schema, sclera, screak, scream, search, shaker, shmear, slaker. | |
-5 letters: aches, acmes, acres, akela, alack, alarm, alecs, almah, almas, almeh, almes, amahs, araks, areal, areas, areca, arles, asker, cakes, calks, calms, camas, camel, cames, cares, carks, carle, carls, carse, chalk, chams, chare, chark, charm, chars, chase, chasm, chela, clams, clash, clear, clerk, craal, crake, crams, crash, creak, cream, earls, escar, eskar, haars, hacek, hacks, haems, hakes, haler, hales, halma, halms, hamal, hames, harem, hares, harks, harls, harms, heals, hears, hecks, helms, hemal, herls, herma, herms, kalam, kales, kames, karma, kasha, kraal, lacer, laces, lacks, lahar, laker, lakes, lakhs, lamas, lamer, lames, larch, lares, larks, laser, leach, leaks, lears, leash, lehrs, maars, macer, maces, mache, machs, macks, macle, makar, maker, makes, malar, males, march, marcs, mares, marks, marls, marse, marsh, maser, meals, merks, merls, races, racks, rakes, rales, reach, realm, reals, reams, recks, rheas, sacra, saker, samek, scale, scare, scram, selah, serac, seral, shack, shake, shale, shame, share, shark, sheal, shear, skelm, slack, slake, smack, smear, smerk. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 61 6D 73 68 61 63 6B 6C 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. .- -- ... .... .- -.-. -.- .-.. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100001 01101101 01110011 01101000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01101100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R a m s h a c k l e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0061 006D 0073 0068 0061 0063 006B 006C 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)52677985746769777871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
