ramshackle

Etymology

First attested 1830, back-formation from ramshackled, from ransackled, past participle of ransackle (“to ransack”), frequentative of Middle English ransaken (“to pillage”).

adj

1. In disrepair or disorder; poorly maintained; lacking upkeep, usually of buildings or vehicles.
   They stayed in a ramshackle cabin on the beach.
   A ramshackle old empire. (of Austria-Hungary). 1914, David Lloyd George, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
2. Badly or carelessly organized.
   So ramshackle was the locals' attempt at defence that, with energetic wingers pouring into the space behind panicked full-backs and centre-halves dizzied by England's movement, it was cruel to behold at times. September 7, 2012, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian
   The alliance that pushed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August was always a somewhat fragile and ramshackle one: Green New Dealers and the coal-state senator Joe Manchin, carbon-capture geeks and environmental justice warriors, all herded together in the sort of big-tent play you get with a 50-50 Senate and one party functionally indifferent on climate. 2022-10-05, David Wallace-Wells, “Progressives Should Rally Around a Clean Energy Construction Boom”, in The New York Times

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To ransack.