as in dilapidated
not strong or stable and likely to break
rickety stairs a rickety old table
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Recent Examples of rickety
At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat Monday at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
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Rahmat Mirza, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Dec. 2022
One very much hopes that those acres make it through today unscathed, but that seems unlikely, and the state hasn’t yet managed to fix its rickety property-insurance system, which will make recovery harder for many.
—Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2022
Some are too rickety to reliably relocate delicate bottles and glassware without fear of a smashup, others are bereft of functional features, and still others simply don’t look attractive enough to grace your living space.
—Rachel Klein, Popular Mechanics, 16 Sep. 2022
Those who are old enough remember being afraid to ride the rickety wooden roller coaster.
—Timothy Fanning, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Sep. 2022
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for rickety
Adjective
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In this way, abandoned and often dilapidated homes are saved and renovated rather than being left to further deteriorate or be torn down.—
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To find her, Luis becomes embedded with an outlaw band of ravers, who cross the Moroccan desert in huge, dilapidated trucks.—
Adjective
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The Yous’ home, the eye-popping standout of Ryu Seong-hie’s production design, is a similarly enormous but earthier, more ramshackle affair.—
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Most of the rigs are older, ramshackle models, but here and there shiny coaches broadcast the relative wealth of their inhabitants—techies who could afford an apartment but don’t want to waste their money on rent.—
Cite this Entry
“Rickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rickety. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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