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
Etymology
Origin of dilapidate
1560–70; < Medieval Latin dīlapidātus, past participle of dīlapidāre to squander (compare dīlapidātiō disrepair), Latin: to pelt with stones; see 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.
See Examples For:
The Victorian houses that line the avenues have been allowed to dilapidate.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2015
Near this abode, but just beyond the gate, A simple cottage stood, old and dilapidate, The home of a poor weaver.
From Laura Secord, the heroine of 1812. A Drama. and Other Poems. by Sarah Anne Curzon
Buffets and gyves from your effete Old monarchy dilapidate, Or freedom's laurels for thy brow?
From Poems Vol. IV by Hattie Howard
They were not such as I could combat; and I am driven to dilapidate the funds of my own country by a theft.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Hassenfratz dilapidates at home; Dumouriez grumbles and they dilapidate abroad: within the walls there is sinning, and without the walls there is sinning.
From The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
These wild swings in the numbers came while residents here didn’t notice any change to the slow but steady arrival of newcomers in dilapidated coaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
When he viewed it for the first time, the musician said it was just “raw land with two dilapidated cabins.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Somehow, they have found refuge in a dilapidated row house with a working television, where their viewing includes nature shows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Trump has also announced plans to renovate what he described as a "dilapidated, worn out" golf course in Washington called East Potomac Golf Links, saying it could host major tournaments when the work is complete.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Jakob’s pulling a dilapidated rowboat from the trees.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
One book, and that the most read of all, was hedged by a sort of divinity which protected it, so far as that was practicable, from the dilapidating effects of use.
From The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by John Hill Burton
As science, however, truly considered, is the art of dilapidating and merging into confused ruin the theories of your predecessors, I was somewhat more precise with the destructive than the constructive part of my plan.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 28, July, 1873 by Various
Winnepeg, the much talked of Capital of the West, is simply dilapidating, and as far west as Regina living is high and wages low.
From Canada for Gentlemen by James Seaton Cockburn
In Ireland, deserted and betrayed, it has received a dilapidating shock.
From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (of 2) by John Lyde Wilson
The lamp, standing alone in the midst of confusion, suffered a partial eclipse; and my favourite Dublin meerschaum successfully resisted the dilapidating effect of a fall of several feet.
From Canada for Gentlemen by James Seaton Cockburn
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.
