(of buildings, vehicles, furniture, etc. 建筑物、车辆、家具等 in a very bad condition and needing repair 摇摇欲坠的；破烂不堪的 a ramshackle house 东倒西歪的房子
(of an organization or a system 组织或体制 badly organized or designed and not likely to last very long 组织松散（而不能持久）的；行将瓦解的 The opposition criticized the government’s ramshackle economic policies. 反对派批评政府的摇摇欲坠的经济政策。
Word Originearly 19th cent. (originally dialect in the sense ‘irregular, disorderly’): alteration of earlier ramshackled, altered form of obsolete ransackled ‘ransacked’.