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
And third, after years of gerrymandering and Republican consolidation of power, the Democratic turnout machine is exceedingly rickety.
—
Tad Friend,
New Yorker,
23 Feb. 2026
They will now be soldered together to form a financially rickety public hospital system.
—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
7 Feb. 2026
Along those lines, the rickety regional sports network model certainly is a concern, especially with the Giants owning a chunk of NBC Sports Bay Area.
—
Susan Slusser,
San Francisco Chronicle,
5 Jan. 2026
The result was a gleaming skyscraper held up by some rickety wooden boards, duct tape, and magic.
—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
14 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Tad Friend,
New Yorker,
23 Feb. 2026
They will now be soldered together to form a financially rickety public hospital system.
—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
7 Feb. 2026
Along those lines, the rickety regional sports network model certainly is a concern, especially with the Giants owning a chunk of NBC Sports Bay Area.
—
Susan Slusser,
San Francisco Chronicle,
5 Jan. 2026
The result was a gleaming skyscraper held up by some rickety wooden boards, duct tape, and magic.
—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
14 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rickety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rickety
Adjective
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Sixteen children from the same family who were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Ohio were living in wretched conditions with human waste all around, confined to just one room over much of the past four years, authorities said Wednesday.
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The parents and grandparents of 16 children found living in a dilapidated house in southern Ohio were arraigned Wednesday on more than a dozen felony child endangerment charges, officials said.
Adjective
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The ramshackle cowpunk of breakthrough album Sidelong is a distant memory now, its rawness and distortion swapped for clarity and precision.
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On the other hand, Dunaway and her tart-talking sidekick, Brenda Vaccaro, seem to be having the time of their lives as mistresses of the shades of darkness (their ramshackle abode is a funhouse Ghost Train ride festooned with skeletons, spiders and tattered netting).
Cite this Entry
“Rickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rickety. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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