derelict
Syllables: de·re·lict/ˈdɛr.ə.lɪkt/US/ˈdɛɹəˌlɪk(t)/
derelict adjective: given up by the guardian or owner; abandoned, forsaken.
Adjective
derelict (comparative more derelict, superlative most derelict)
- Given up by the guardian or owner; abandoned, forsaken.
- [T]heſe affections, vvhich theſe expoſed or derelict children bear to their Mothers, have no grounds of nature or aſſiduity but civility and opinion; […]1649, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Discourse I. Of Nursing Children in Imitation of the Blessed Virgin-Mother.”, in The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life According to the Christian Institution. […]...
- We may be pardoned our nostalgia, those of us who can remember the old days, the days before the grouping and before standardisation, when we see, as today we see so often, the derelict and abandoned buildings of what were once railway stations, for the life which they used to enjoy we lived with...1953 April, Henry Maxwell, “Abandoned Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 270
- Synonyms:
- dropped, forlorn, abandoned, desert, deserted, desolate, discarded, forsaken, high and dry, left behind
- Of a ship: abandoned at sea; of a spacecraft: abandoned in outer space.
- There was a derelict ship on the island.
- An imaginative illustration showing how a space tow-boat (lower left), operating with a plasma electric rocket motor, takes a derelict satellite out of the traffic lanes in deep space.1962, Will Eisner, “Rocket Motors”, in Charles Kramer, editor, America’s Space Vehicles: A Pictorial Review, New York, N.Y.: Sterling Publishing Co., →OCLC, image caption, page 56
- Of property: in a poor state due to abandonment or neglect; dilapidated, neglected.
- There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly.1955 July, D. S. Barrie, “Railways of the Bridgend District”, in Railway Magazine, page 449
- Adrift, lost.
- Deprived of his guiding influence, they vvere vvhirled about, the ſport of every guſt, and eaſily driven into any port; and as thoſe vvho joined vvith them in manning the veſſel vvere the moſt directly oppoſite to his opinions, meaſures, and character, and far the moſt artful and moſt povverful of...1774 April 19, Edmund Burke, Speech of Edmund Burke, Esq. on American Taxation, April 19, 1774, 2nd edition, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1775, →OCLC, page 79
- Synonyms:
- anchorless
- Negligent in performing a duty; careless.
- The wrongs which we have suffered from Mexico are before the world, and must deeply impress every American citizen. A Government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties.1859 December 19 (date delivered), John Buchanan, “The President’s Message [Third State of the Union Address]”, in The Albion, volume 37, number 53, New York, N.Y.: W. Young & Co., published 31...
- Synonyms:
- neglectful, unfaithful, careless, cursory, heedless, irregardless, irrespective, lash, lax, incautious
Noun
derelict (countable and uncountable, plural derelicts)
- Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
- But often it must have happened in a course of centuries, that plague, small-pox, cholera, the sweating-sickness, or other scourges of universal Europe and Asia, would absolutely depopulate a region no larger than an island; […] In such cases, mere strangers would oftentimes enter upon the lands as...1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Modern Greece”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 320
- Property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; (countable) an item of such property, especially a ship.
- Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum: / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in Songs of a Sourdough, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 38
- An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast, a waif.
- And, think you, will the unkind ones hesitate / To try conclusions with my helplessness,— / To pounce on, misuse me, your derelict, / Helped by advantage that bereavement lends / Folks, who, while yet you lived, played tricks like these?1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part IV”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 257–258
- A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange chance, the last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet.1911 December, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax”, in His Last Bow: A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company...
- A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant; also, a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their hygiene and personal affairs.
- A very gratifying development of the work in this office has been the gradual improvement in the class and type of applicants. […] This improvement is due, in part to the arrangement with the Federal Employment office whereby the latter handles the common labor, in which group there is always a...1918, V. A. Zimmer, “Part VII: Report of Bureau of Employment [Report of the Superintendent of the Buffalo Office]”, in Annual Report of the Industrial Commission for the Twelve Months Ended June 30...
- Only she must have men—understand? If they're lazy derelicts and ne'er-do-wells she'll eat 'em up. But she's waiting for real men—British to the bone— […]1924, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, M[ary] L[ouise] Skinner, “Jack Arrives in Australia”, in The Boy in the Bush, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, section III, page 18
- Synonyms:
- bum, stiff, casual, clochard, dero, down-and-out, down-and-outer, drifter, epithite, floater
- A person who is negligent in performing a duty.
- Synonyms:
- shirker
Verb
derelict (third-person singular simple present derelicts, present participle derelicting, simple past and past participle derelicted)
- To abandon or forsake (someone or something).
- [H]e finds a poor young fellow, a famished, sick young man, derelicted of his master, and left for dead in the march, and by the means and conduct of this wretch, David recovers the enemy, recovers the spoil, recovers his honour, and the love of his people.1630 (date delivered), John Donne, “Sermon LXXI. [At the Hague, December 19, 1619, I preached upon this Text. Since, in My Sickness at Abrey-hatch, in Essex, 1630, Revising My Short Notes of that...
- [F]or the public, for the redemption of the whole world, God hath (shall we say, pretermitted?) derelicted, forsaken, abandoned, his own, and only Son.a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon LXXXII. Preached at a Marriage.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume IV, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published...
- To neglect a duty.
- [I]t has occurred to me, that where so momentous a point as the liberty of the subject is concerned, I should be derelicting from my duty, did I not avail myself of the assistance of His Majesty's law officer, where a doubt existed in my mind.1825 April 16 (date written), Geo[rge] Wyke, “Slaves in the Colonies. [Letter to the Hon. Richard Musgrave, Acting Advocate General. No. 6.]”, in Papers and Correspondence: […] Relating to New South...
- I don't remember vowing to be calmly cheerful under the infliction of the Pottingers and others of that ilk; but I must have done it, or Arthur wouldn't look as if I was so flagrantly derelicting from my duty.1869, Annie Thomas, “The Bride at Home”, in False Colours. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 50–51
derelict meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
derelict in Hindi
- given up by the guardian or owner — see also abandoned, forsaken
- जर्जर jarjar
derelict in Urdu
- متروک
derelict in Bengali
- পরিত্যক্ত, জরাজীর্ণ
derelict in Malayalam
- dilapidated, ramshackle, run down
- ഉപേക്ഷിക്കപ്പെട്ട, പൊളിഞ്ഞ, നിലംപതിക്കാറായ, തകർന്ന, ക്ഷത, നശിച്ച
- abandoned, disused, deserted
- ഉപേക്ഷിക്കപ്പെട്ട, ഉന്മുക്ത, ദസ്ത, വിപനീത, വിസൃഷ്ട, പ്രക്ഷിപ്ത
- lax, negligent, neglectful
- കർത്തവ്യവിലോപം വരുത്തുന്ന, കൃത്യനിർവണത്തിൽ വീഴ്ച വരുത്തുന്ന, ഉപേക്ഷാശീലമുള്ള, ശ്രദ്ധയില്ലാത്ത, അശ്രദ്ധമായ, ഉപേക്ഷവരുത്തുന്ന
- vagabond, tramp, vagrant
- പരിത്യക്തൻ, ഉപേക്ഷിക്കപ്പെട്ടവൻ, ഉഴലുന്നവൻ, അലഞ്ഞുതിരിയുന്നവൻ, ഭിക്ഷാടനം ചെയ്തു നടക്കുന്നവൻ, കഠേരൻ
More languagesFewer languages
- derelict in Kannada
- ಉಪೇಕ್ಷಿಸು, ಪರಿತ್ಯಜಿಸು, ಗಮನ ತಪ್ಪು, ತೊರೆ
- derelict in Vietnamese
- bỏ hoang
Examples of derelict in a sentence
- When and where did NASA's derelict satellite go down? [title]2011 September 24, Adrian West, “When and Where did NASA’s Derelict Satellite Go Down?”, in Gizmodo, archived from the original on 09 Aug...
- As they hunt, the Archers and Duval find many derelicts and ne'er-do-wells in many parts of Paris.1988, Jonathan D[ermot] Spence, “Paris”, in The Question of Hu (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 87:
- Conſtable's Caſe, eſteemed Goods derelicted; vvhich is a Queſtion not thoroughly examined.)a. 1675 (date written), John Vaughan, “Edmund Sheppard Junior, Plaintiff; in Trespass, against George Gosnold, William Booth, William...
- Had I not so marv'lously done / My works, ye had not had such heinous sin, / Of so damning, derelicting nature; / But now ye have no excuse, no cover.1803, John Holmes, “On the Son of God in Union with the Father and the Holy Ghost”, in Poetical Essays. […], London: […] [F]or the author...
Synonyms of derelict
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of derelict
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more derelict |
| superlative | most derelict |
| Noun | |
| plural | derelicts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | derelicts |
| present participle | derelicting |
| past participle | derelicted |
| past | derelicted |
Origin of derelict
The adjective and verb are a learned borrowing from Latin dērelictus (“(completely) abandoned, deserted, forsaken; discarded”), the perfect passive participle of dērelinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake; to discard”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; completely, thoroughly’) + relinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake, leave (behind); to depart (from); to give up, relinquish”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”). Doublet of relict, relic, and relinquish. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Words formed from derelict
Questions about derelict
- What does derelict mean?
- Derelict means given up by the guardian or owner; abandoned, forsaken.
- What is derelict in Hindi?
- Derelict in Hindi is जर्जर (jarjar). See Derelict meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use derelict in a sentence?
- When and where did NASA's derelict satellite go down? [title]
- What part of speech is derelict?
- Derelict can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce derelict?
- Derelict is pronounced /ˈdɛr.ə.lɪkt/ (UK).
Words near derelict in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: derelict (page history and authors); derelict (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Derelict (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); derelict (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); derelict (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-derelict.wav.
Cite this entry: “derelict.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/derelict. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.