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- Dictionaryshambles/ˈʃamblz/
plural
- 1. a state of total disorder: informal "my career was in a shambles" Similar
- 2. a butcher's slaughterhouse (archaic except in place names): "the shambles where the animals were slaughtered"
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a place or situation that is in a state of confusion or disorder: The morning after the party, the house was a complete shambles.
1. archaic : a meat market. 2. : slaughterhouse. 3. a. : a place of mass slaughter or bloodshed. the battlefield became a shambles. b. : a scene or a state of great destruction : wreckage. the city was a shambles after the bombing. c (1) : a scene or a state of great disorder or confusion. an economy in shambles. (2) : great confusion : mess.
to walk slowly and awkwardly, without lifting your feet correctly: Sick patients shambled along the hospital corridors. He was a strange, shambling figure. Synonym. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Moving unsteadily or with difficulty. blunder. bumble. dodderer. doddery. favour. halting. hobble. inflexibly. limp. lollop. lumber. lumpily
A shambles is a place, situation, or other thing that’s in complete disorder. When shambles refers to a place, it typically indicates that it’s a mess or, more seriously, that it’s a scene of destruction, wreckage, or even carnage. When it refers to a situation, it indicates that it has fallen into chaos.
1. a place of great disorder: the room was a shambles after the party. 2. (Agriculture) a place where animals are brought to be slaughtered. 3. any place of slaughter or carnage. 4. (Commerce) dialect Brit a row of covered stalls or shops where goods, originally meat, are sold.
If a place, event, or situation is a shambles or is in a shambles, everything is in disorder. The ship's interior was an utter shambles. The economy is in a shambles.
noun. shambles,(used with a singular or plural verb) a slaughterhouse. any place of carnage. any scene of destruction: to turn cities into shambles. any scene, place, or thing in disorder: Her desk is a shambles. British Dialect. a butcher's shop or stall. shamble. 2. [ sham -b uh l ] Phonetic (Standard)IPA. verb (used without object)
: to walk awkwardly with dragging feet : shuffle. shamble noun. Synonyms. barge. clump. flog [ British] flounder. galumph. lumber. lump. plod. pound. scuffle. shuffle. slog. slough. stamp. stomp. stumble. stump.
People say things are "in shambles" or "a shambles" — they mean the same thing. However you say it, a shambles is chaotic, disorderly, out of hand, and off the hook — a major, five-alarm mess. Definitions of shambles
Definition of shambles noun in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.