disrepair
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of disrepair
Explanation
Disrepair is a state of being damaged or broken, especially because of neglect. Leaving your car in your parents' driveway all winter might result in disrepair. A house in disrepair needs help — it might look shabby, with flaking paint and a crumbling brick porch. This mostly happens when houses aren't being lived in, or when their owners don't have the money for upkeep. An entire city or neighborhood in disrepair feels neglected and even dangerous. The noun disrepair combines the prefix dis-, "do the opposite with repair, "mend or fix," from its Latin root reparare, "restore" or "put back in order."
Vocabulary lists containing disrepair
Donald Trump Inauguration Address- January 20, 2017
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Outcasts United
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The View from Saturday
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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.
Closed in 2017 and left in disrepair, the museum, in urgent need of salvaging, has won priority from the new Hungarian government, though it may be many years before an actual reopening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
A street in disrepair along the 1300 block of Ventura Blvd on Friday, Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
After years of disrepair, the once opulent Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino came tumbling down to cheers from onlookers who had all paid $10 to watch the demolition from their cars.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Many schools, especially in rural India, are starved of funding and in disrepair.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The disrepair of the house did not bother her at all, the crumbling plaster, the peeling wallpaper, the faded paints or the columns; none of it made any difference.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
