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shambles

sham·ble
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [sham-buh l]
    • /ˈʃæm bəl/
    • /ˈʃæm.bl̩z/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [sham-buh l]
    • /ˈʃæm bəl/

Definitions of shambles word

  • noun shambles a shambling gait. 1
  • verb without object shambles to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle. 1
  • singular noun shambles If a place, event, or situation is a shambles or is in a shambles, everything is in disorder. 0
  • noun shambles a place of great disorder 0
  • noun shambles a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered 0
  • noun shambles any place of slaughter or carnage 0

Information block about the term

Origin of shambles

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English shamel, Old English sc(e)amel stool, table < Late Latin scamellum, Latin scamillum, diminutive of Latin scamnum bench; compare German Schemel

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Shambles

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

shambles popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 65% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

shambles usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for shambles

noun shambles

  • abattoir — An abattoir is a place where animals are killed in order to provide meat.
  • ataxia — lack of muscular coordination
  • bedlam — Bedlam means a great deal of noise and disorder. People often say 'It was bedlam' to mean 'There was bedlam'.
  • blood and guts — dealing with or depicting war or violence, especially in a lurid manner: a blood-and-guts movie.
  • blood bath — a killing of many people; massacre

verb shambles

  • drags — Plural form of drag.
  • gimps — Plural form of gimp.
  • hobbles — Plural form of hobble.

Top questions with shambles

  • what does shambles mean?
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  • what is the meaning of shambles?
  • what is shambles?
  • what is a shambles?
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See also

Matching words

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