Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use ramshackle in a sentence

14 example sentences · adjective, verb

Ramshackle means in disrepair or disorder; poorly maintained; lacking upkeep, usually of buildings or vehicles. Example: “They stayed in a ramshackle cabin on the beach.”

Examples of ramshackle by meaning

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

  • They stayed in a ramshackle cabin on the beach.
  • A ramshackle old empire. (of Austria-Hungary).1914, David Lloyd George, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
  • The villa was a roomy white house, which, as is the case with most continental houses, looked to an English eye frail, ramshackle, and absurdly frivolous, more like a pagoda in a tea-garden than a place where one slept.1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC

adjectiveBadly or carelessly organized.

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

More sentences with ramshackle

  • The house was a ramshackle affair.From the entry affair
  • This garden is a ramshackle affair.From the entry affair
  • She was not taken aback to find he lived in a ramshackle log hut among the trees.2000, Tanith Lee, White as Snow, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, page 105. From the entry take aback
  • The Who start off ramshackle, draggy even.2019 August 15, Bob Stanley, “'Groovy, groovy, groovy': listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, in The Guardian. From the entry draggy
  • There were assorted trees growing in it, some forming thickets and thinnets, and a number of tents and ramshackle small buildings.2007, Piers Anthony, Stork Naked, page 278. From the entry thinnet
  • The female deputy sat down at the ramshackle piano and proceeded to plink out the opening notes of "Heart and Soul."2004, Angela Elwell Hunt, The Truth Teller. From the entry plink
  • Eventually, the ramshackle Chou government fell apart.1998, Chris Peers, Warlords of China: 700BC to AD1662, Arms and Armour Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 19. From the entry chou
  • Two were ramshackle old men—droolers as toothless as carp.1969, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 3, in Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, published 2005, page 57. From the entry fragmentarily
  • Does this mean Middlesbrough get the short end of the stick, with what will surely be the most ramshackle show of the tour?2012 September 2, Tim Jonze, “Africa Express: rolling coverage”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 10 Apr 2014. From the entry short end of the stick
  • The cracked flagstone path leads to the only house in sight, a large, ramshackle tarpaper-shingled abomination straight out of an Appalachian blightscape.2008, Robert N. Chan, Zahirah Abdulah, Bad Memory, page 57. From the entry blightscape

Meaning of ramshackle

  1. adjective In disrepair or disorder; poorly maintained; lacking upkeep, usually of buildings or vehicles.
  2. adjective Badly or carelessly organized.
  3. verb To ransack.

Full definition of ramshackle

Questions about ramshackle in a sentence

How do you use ramshackle in a sentence?
Ramshackle is used as an adjective and verb. For example: “They stayed in a ramshackle cabin on the beach.”
What is a short sentence with ramshackle?
“A ramshackle old empire. (of Austria-Hungary).”
What does ramshackle mean?
Ramshackle means in disrepair or disorder; poorly maintained; lacking upkeep, usually of buildings or vehicles.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ramshackle (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use ramshackle in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ramshackle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.