shambles

A place or situation that is extremely messy or badly organized.

• My room is a shambles.
• The move left our kitchen in a shambles.
• Without a clear plan, the whole event became a shambles.

Similar words: mess, chaos

Common phrases: a complete shambles, in a shambles, a total shambles

A place or situation that is very messy, badly organized, or seriously damaged.

• The kitchen is a shambles.
• Their travel arrangements were in shambles.
• The builders left the house a complete shambles.

How to use it: be a shambles (The whole event was a shambles.); be in shambles (Their plans were in shambles after the storm.)

Similar words: mess, chaos, disaster

Opposites: order

Common phrases: a complete shambles, in shambles, leave something a shambles

A place where many people have been killed or much has been destroyed.

• The battlefield was a shambles.
• After the attack, the square became a bloody shambles.
• Smoke rose above the shambles where the village had stood.

Similar words: scene of carnage

Common phrases: a bloody shambles, battlefield shambles

A building where animals are killed for meat.

• Cattle were led into the shambles.
• The old shambles stood beside the market.
• Butchers worked in the shambles before dawn.

Similar words: slaughterhouse, abattoir

Common phrases: the town shambles, cattle shambles