Sample sentences for SHAMBLES - verbalworkout.com

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Definition

a condition of great disorder

In 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

shambles = something in great disorder

That's guaranteed to turn that dance floor into a shambles.
Athol Fugard -- Master Harold...and the Boys

shambles = a condition of great disorder

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

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