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Definition
a condition of great disorderIn the past, shambles referenced a slaughterhouse (a building used to butcher animals) — as when Joseph Conrad wrote in The Secret Agent, "I told him that I dreamt of a world like shambles, where the weak would be taken in hand for utter extermination."
Very rarely, shambles is used as a form of the verb shamble to indicate a type of awkward shuffling walk, as in "She shambles when she is nervous."
- Our plan is in shambles.
- The breakup left her in a shambles.
- With most of her possessions gone and her beloved yard a shambles, she still took a lively and cordial interest in Jem's and my affairs.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- That's guaranteed to turn that dance floor into a shambles.Athol Fugard -- Master Harold...and the Boys
- When Jackie had borrowed the Dodge and started to drive back at 12:30, the town was a panicky shambles.Stephen King -- Carrie
- I take it most of Earth's a shambles, but the war goes on.Ray Bradbury -- The Martian Chronicles
- Pale and bruised, lean to the point of infirmity, he shambles toward the bed.Anthony Doerr -- All the Light We Cannot See
- It's hard to see because the place is a shambles, but it looks like they were growing in rows.Patrick Rothfuss -- The Name of the Wind
- "-a total shambles," the dark-haired guy was saying as I slid in.Sarah Dessen -- Just Listen
- O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles, That quicken even with blowing.William Shakespeare -- Othello, the Moor of Venice
- And when they got out, most of those who were sick didn't get treated, mainly because Russia's huge civilian tb control system was itself in shambles.Tracy Kidder -- Mountains Beyond Mountains
- The elephant also stands and then shambles around to present Marlena with her tail.Sara Gruen -- Water for Elephants
- The victims return to their lives—which are often in shambles—and hours later I find myself face-to-face with the perpetrators.Jay Allison, et al. -- This I Believe
- Even so, Aringarosa's moment of glory was in shambles.Dan Brown -- The Da Vinci Code
- But the room was a dreadful shambles.Stephen King -- The Shining
- Kee-ripes, what a shambles!Robert A. Heinlein -- Glory Road
- "Here now, chap, I daresay if it weren't for my charity, your standing would be a shambles and your family in the workhouse."Libba Bray -- Sweet Far Thing
- The place was a shambles.Walter Dean Myers -- Hoops
- Obviously the leadership was a shambles, and Bourne knew why.Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Supremacy
- The retreat is a bloody shambles.Ian McEwan -- Atonement
shambles = something in great disorder
shambles = a condition of great disorder
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