Word.ws English Dictionary

ramshackly

ramshackly adjective: characteristic of something ramshackle; in disrepair; appearing ready to collapse; rickety.

Adjective

ramshackly (comparative more ramshackly, superlative most ramshackly)

  1. Characteristic of something ramshackle; in disrepair; appearing ready to collapse; rickety.
    • It is a good thing that Sir John has managed to let the ramshackly old place to any one,” he said.1889, Cassell's Family Magazine, page 698
    • Who'd buy this ole ramshackly house I'd like to know?1895, The Vassar Miscellany, volume 25, page 14
  2. (figuratively, literal) Carelessly or loosely constructed.
    • Mr. Forster twice calls his work "ramshackly." Here and there it is a bit ramshackly, as in the pages on Defoe and in the brief speculations on the future of the novel. But speaking generally, it has order and it has comprehensiveness.1974, Arnold Bennett, Andrew Mylett, Arnold Bennett: The Evening Standard Years

Examples of ramshackly in a sentence

  • “How could you tell me that it was a ramshackly old Mexican house we were coming to?1902, The Cosmopolitan, volume 32, page 90:
  • And finally she slew to a ramshackly halt in a ramshackly heap with the rest of the Sufrogs.2011, Gregory Dark, Susie and the Snow-it-alls, page 34:

Forms of ramshackly

comparativemore ramshackly
superlativemost ramshackly

Origin of ramshackly

From ramshackle + -y.

Questions about ramshackly

What does ramshackly mean?
Ramshackly means characteristic of something ramshackle; in disrepair; appearing ready to collapse; rickety.
How do you use ramshackly in a sentence?
“How could you tell me that it was a ramshackly old Mexican house we were coming to?
What part of speech is ramshackly?
Ramshackly is an adjective.

Words near ramshackly in the dictionary

  1. ramshackle
  2. ramshackled
  3. ramshackleness
  4. ramshackles
  5. ramshackling
  6. ramshackly
  7. Ramshaw
  8. ramshorn
  9. ramshorn snail
  10. ramshorn snails
  11. ramshorns

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ramshackly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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