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ramshackle

 - 3 dictionary results

ram⋅shack⋅le

  [ram-shak-uhl]
Use ramshackle in a Sentence
–adjective
loosely made or held together; rickety; shaky: a ramshackle house.
Origin:
1815–25; cf. earlier rans(h)ackled, obscurely akin to ransack

Related forms:
ram⋅shack⋅le⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
tumbledown, dilapidated, derelict, flimsy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ramshackle
ram·shack·le   (rām'shāk'əl)   
adj.  So poorly constructed or kept up that disintegration is likely; rickety: a ramshackle cabin in the woods.

[Back-formation from obsolete ranshackled, ramshackle, alteration of ransackled, past participle of ransackle, to ransack, frequentative of Middle English ransaken, to pillage; see ransack.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

ramshackle 
1830, back-formation from ramshackled, earlier ranshackled (1675), alteration of ransackled, pp. of ransackle (see ransack).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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