shambles Definition
sham·bles (-bəlz)
noun
- Brit. a place where meat is sold; butcher's stall or shop: now only a local usage, esp. in street names
- a slaughterhouse
- a scene of great slaughter, bloodshed, or carnage
- any scene or condition of great destruction or disorder rooms left a shambles by conventioneers
Etymology: ME schamel, bench, as for displaying meat for sale < OE scamol, bench or stool, akin to Ger schemel < early WGmc borrowing < L scamellum, dim. < scamnum, bench < IE base *skabh-, *skambh-, to prop up > Sans skámbhana-, a support
shambles Synonyms
shambles Usage Examples
Converse of object
- become: The Tax Credit system has become a complete shambles.
- look: Even with plenty of ball, England had looked a shambles.
- make: The ' Connecting Derby ' scheme is continuing to make a shambles of Victoria Street.
- compare: When they are a pathetic shambles compared to what they could be, I suffer.
- see: Thank goodness he did not live to see the shambles that turned into the Tories ' privatization of the railways.
- explain: Question: How do you explain the shambles surrounding the introduction of the new tax credit system?
Preposition: at
back: Goodness me what a shambles at the back during the Cheltenham draw at the KC Stadium.
Adjective modifier
- utter: With that we left the utter shambles of the fall of Singapore.
- bloody: The handling of FMD must have been a cockup, or more precisely a total bloody shambles.
- absolute: The Immigration Policy of the Government is an absolute shambles.
- complete: The result of the events of 1996 was a complete shambles in the asylum system.
- total: The ensemble dancing is in fact all over the place and ends in a total shambles.
- current: The current shambles illustrates the folly of allowing Mr Clarke to stay on to sort out the mess.
Noun used with modifier
- planning: Well done, Surrey, for using the ' planning shambles ' to resist this invasion.
- flesh: Flesh shambles were flesh benches or stalls where meat was once sold in medieval times.
- law: A TERRIBLE SHAMBLES 29 June 2006 MINISTERS must take responsibility for the latest terror law shambles.
- deportation: Labor government's deportation shambles - Chilean who escaped Pinochet to be sent to Jamaica Submitted by tony on 30 May 2006 - 10:00am.
Possessives
butcher: The livestock market and butchers ' shambles used to take place in the market place and the yards of the inns along Sun Street.
Preposition: in
system: The result of the events of 1996 was a complete shambles in the asylum system.
Preposition: of
government: On Tuesday Michael Howard captured the mood of a nation longing for something better than this shambles of a government.
Browse dictionary entries near shambles
- ‹ shamble
- ‹ Shamash
- ‹ shamas
- ‹ shamanism
- ‹ shaman
- ‹ sham transaction
- ‹ sham pleading
- ‹ sham
- ‹ shaly
- ‹ shalt
- shambolic ›
- shame ›
- shamed ›
- shamefaced ›
- shameful ›
- shamefully ›
- shameless ›
- shamelessly ›
- shammer ›
- shammes ›

