Meanings
- UKinformalgovernmentA situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.
Near-synonyms: clusterfuck, debacle, fiasco, hot mess, perfect storm, shit show, shitstorm
2 more examples
Between the car accident, the food poisoning and the lost keys, the holiday was an omnishambles.
Rail unions also rounded on ministers to intervene in the energy "omnishambles", with ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan calling on the Government to "do the right thing for people, the right thing for business, and the right thing for our rail network. Because it is also the right thing for our planet."
2021 October 20, Paul Stephens, “Network News: Electricity prices force Freightliner to revert to diesel”, in RAIL, number 942, page 7Synonyms: clusterfuck, debacle, fiasco, hot mess, perfect storm, shit show, shitstorm
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.
Origin
From omni- + shambles. Introduced by the television show The Thick of It in 2009.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
omnishambles. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omnishambles
“omnishambles.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omnishambles. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “omnishambles,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/omnishambles.
Source: omnishambles on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.