ramshackle

The definition of ramshackle is something that is badly in need of repair or that is likely to fall apart.

(adjective)

A house with boarded up windows and a sagging foundation that could fall over at any time is an example of a ramshackle house.

See ramshackle in Webster's New World College Dictionary

adjective

loose and rickety; likely to fall to pieces; shaky: a ramshackle old building

Origin: back-form. < ramshackled, for earlier ransackled, pp. of ransackle, freq. of ransack

See ramshackle in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective

So poorly constructed or kept up that disintegration is likely; rickety: a ramshackle cabin in the woods.

Origin:

Origin: Back-formation from obsolete ranshackled, ramshackle

Origin: , alteration of ransackled

Origin: , past participle of ransackle, to ransack

Origin: , frequentative of Middle English ransaken, to pillage; see ransack

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