No Hyphen in Ramshackled

No Hyphen in Ramshackled No Hyphen in â€Å"Ramshackled† No Hyphen in â€Å"Ramshackled† By Maeve Maddox When I saw â€Å"ram-shackled† used to describe a boat. the image of a boat chained to a ram sprang immediately to mind. Both ramshackle and ramshackled are used to describe a building or other fairly large object in a state of extreme disrepair. The word started out as ransackled and is related to such words as ransom and sack (as in â€Å"to pillage.†) I’ve also seen ramshackle/ramshackled written as two words: Ram-shackled economies headline at the New Statesman Factories in China range from some of the most modern in the world to small ram shackled facilities. story at the Huffington Post Both ramshackle and ramshackled should be written as one word. Unless, of course, you are making a pun, as the writer of this Washington Post headline was doing: Ram-Shackled The Redskins Defense Is Shredded For 579 Yards in an Overtime Loss The opposing team was the St. Louis Rams. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 101Do you "orient" yourself, or "orientate" yourself?Parataxis and Hypotaxis