shambles

C1 Topic:Law & Government

US /ˈʃæmbəlz/ See IPA manual

Freq #21879

Meanings

1

noun
A state of great disorder, mess, or confusion.

After the party, the whole flat was in a complete shambles.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms omnishamblesshamblyshambolicshambolism

Etymology

From Middle English schamels, plural of schamel, from Old English sċeamol, sċamul (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil (“stool, bench”), from Vulgar Latin scamellum, from Latin scamillum (“little bench, ridge”), from Latin scamnum (“bench, ridge, breadth of a field”).

schamels Middle English sċeamol Old English *skamul Proto-West Germanic scamellum Latin scamillum Latin scamnum Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# shambles

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈʃæmbəlz/
**Frequency rank:** 21879

## Meanings
1. A state of great disorder, mess, or confusion.

## Examples
- After the party, the whole flat was in a complete shambles.

## Derived Forms
- omnishambles
- shambly
- shambolic
- shambolism

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: schamels
- Root: sċeamol
- Root: *skamul
- Root: scamellum
- Root: scamillum
- Root: scamnum

## Etymology
From Middle English schamels, plural of schamel, from Old English sċeamol, sċamul (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil (“stool, bench”), from Vulgar Latin scamellum, from Latin scamillum (“little bench, ridge”), from Latin scamnum (“bench, ridge, breadth of a field”).

## AI Etymology
Shambles is from Middle English schamels, plural of schamel, from Old English sċeamol, sċamul (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil (“stool, bench”), from Vulgar Latin scamellum, from Latin scamillum (“little bench, ridge”), from Latin scamnum (“bench, ridge, breadth of a field”). Important historical forms include Middle English schamels, Old English sċeamol, Proto-West Germanic *skamul, Vulgar Latin scamellum, Latin scamillum, and Latin scamnum. In present-day use, it means a state of great disorder, mess, or confusion.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

shambles

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback