tumble-down

[ tuhm-buhl-doun ]

adjective

1. dilapidated; ruined; rundown:

   He lived in a tumble-down shack.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tumble-down¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

The actual Los Angeles was a fly-ridden settlement of tumble-down adobes, packs of feral dogs and one of the nation’s highest murder rates.

From Los Angeles Times

Some peddled their pills near tumble-down storefronts and on blighted street corners in addiction-plagued parts of Allegheny County, where deaths by drug overdose reached record levels last year.

From Seattle Times

Off a dirt road, in a small village north of Tirana, there's a half-built, tumble-down, brick house.

From BBC

The city's High Street was a dirt road then, with tumble-down thatched cottages on one side and hoardings on the other.

From BBC

Their father “was very drunk. He could hardly walk up the rickety steps of the old tumble-down house, and his thirteen-year-old son had to help him.”

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• battered
• broken-down
• crumbling
• damaged
• decaying
• decrepit
• derelict
• dingy
• in ruins
• neglected
• ramshackle
• rickety
• run down
• seedy
• shabby
• unkempt