dilapidate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause or allow (a building, automobile, etc.) to fall into a state of disrepair, as by misuse or neglect (often used passively).
The house had been dilapidated by neglect.
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Archaic. to squander; waste.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- dilapidation noun
- dilapidator noun
Etymology
Origin of dilapidate
1560–70; < Medieval Latin dīlapidātus, past participle of dīlapidāre to squander (compare dīlapidātiō disrepair), Latin: to pelt with stones; di- 2, lapidate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The government wants to "neutralise" the site and passed a law in 2016 to take control of the dilapidated building from its private owner.
From Barron's
If he really cares about the latter, he wouldn’t bar tenants in the city’s dilapidated public housing from airing complaints at his hearings on “rental ripoffs,” as the New York Post reported this week.
The licenses come a few weeks after Venezuela’s interim government made changes to its hydrocarbon law to ease state control of its dilapidated oil industry.
Many residents have little choice but to stay in their dilapidated homes.
From Barron's
The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which in 1860 took possession of a dilapidated home nearly devoid of its contents, has been trying ever since to restore it to its appearance in 1799, when Washington died.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
