Shambles — A Vocabulary Story
The Dumpling Afternoon
When Aigerim's grandmother came to stay, she announced that the family would make manti, which are steamed dumplings, and that everyone would help.
By three o'clock the kitchen was a shambles.
Shambles means a complete mess or a state of total disorder.
There was flour on the table, flour on the chairs, flour on the dog, and a surprising amount of flour on Aigerim's little brother Arman, who had not been given a job and had found one anyway.
Her dad was rolling dough with a rolling pin and a worried face. Her mum was chopping onions and crying about it. Aigerim was pinching the dumplings closed, which was the best job, because you could make each one a different shape.
"This," said her grandmother, looking round, "is a shambles."
"Is that bad?" asked Aigerim.
"It is normal. A kitchen that is not a shambles has nobody in it."
Arman sneezed a cloud of flour. The dog ate a dumpling that had not been cooked yet and looked very pleased with itself.
By five o'clock the steamer was full and the shambles had moved from the table to the sink, which was piled so high that the tap had disappeared.
Aigerim's dad looked at the sink and then at the dumplings. "I vote we eat first and sort out the shambles afterwards," he said.
Everyone voted the same way, including the dog, who did not get a vote but sat under the table in a hopeful manner.
The manti were perfect. Aigerim's shapes were the oddest and, her grandmother said, the tastiest, which may or may not have been true.
"Same again next week," said her grandmother, as Aigerim's dad looked at the sink and sighed.
Word Definition
shambles
meaning
a state of complete disorder or mess
synonyms
mess · muddle · chaos · disorder
antonyms
order · tidiness · neatness
example sentence
After the party, the kitchen was a complete shambles.