dilapidated
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nondilapidated adjective
- undilapidated adjective
Etymology
Origin of dilapidated
First recorded in 1800–10; dilapidate + -ed 2
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.
Beneath moss-covered cinder blocks, dilapidated stone markers, and a handful of headstones, more than 200 children who died in state custody between the 1870s and 1930s are buried.
From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026
In 2015, he transformed the dilapidated Tropicana lido in Weston-super-Mare, which he had visited as a child, into the subversive tourist attraction Dismaland.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
From his portrait S.P. seems to gaze out in disappointment at rooms that have grown increasingly dilapidated.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026
But it’s here, in places like the dust-swept grouping of cinder-block houses and dilapidated buildings that make up Al Kawd, where the real-world impact of those cuts can be most clearly felt.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026
She still remembered shivering in a dark corner of that dilapidated mansion, listening to the Cyclopes mimicking her friends’ voices, trying to trick her into coming out into the open.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
