shambles

/ ˈʃæmbəlz /

noun

1. a place of great disorder

   the room was a shambles after the party

2. a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered
3. any place of slaughter or carnage
4. dialect.
   a row of covered stalls or shops where goods, originally meat, are sold

Word History and Origins

Origin of shambles¹

C14 shamble table used by meat vendors, from Old English sceamel stool, from Late Latin scamellum a small bench, from Latin scamnum stool

Example Sentences

“The system is a shambles,” said Gevorg Adjian, the founder of All Seniors Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that offers free medical care, supplies, and healthcare services for seniors.

From Los Angeles Times

No laughing matter at the time, Coleman has since raised a smile at the events of Skopje that started with shambles but eventually led to a sense of where Wales were going under his charge.

From BBC

"I've gotten so many calls from people just completely in shambles after watching the last episode and how meaningful it was to them to watch," Mo says.

From BBC

Since the turn of the year it has been a shambles: the women thrashed all over Australia, the men one win from 10 in McCullum's new white-ball era.

From BBC

Drake responded on Instagram by asking whoever had his "hidden daughter" to hand her back, adding that Lamar's claims were a "shambles".

From BBC

Related Words

• disarray