Word.ws English Dictionary

dilapidate

UK/dɪˈlæp.ɪ.deɪt/

dilapidate verb: to cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.

Verb

dilapidate (third-person singular simple present dilapidates, present participle dilapidating, simple past and past participle dilapidated)

  1. (transitive) To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
    • If the bishop, parson, or vicar, etc., dilapidates the buildings, or cuts down the timber of the patrimony[…]1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
    • In the last days of autumn he had whitewashed the chalet, painted the doors, windows, and veranda, repaired the roof and interior, and improved the place so much that the landlord had warned him that the rent would be raised at the expiration of his twelvemonth's tenancy, remarking that a tenant...1883, George Bernard Shaw, chapter VI, in An Unsocial Socialist
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To squander or waste.
    • The patrimony of the bishopric of Oxon was much dilapidated.1692, Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses
  3. (archaic, intransitive) To fall into ruin or disuse.

Adjective

dilapidate (comparative more dilapidate, superlative most dilapidate)

  1. (archaic, obsolete) dilapidated

dilapidate meaning in Urdu and Kannada

dilapidate in Urdu

برباد کرنا, کھنڈر بنانا

dilapidate in Kannada

ಜೀರ್ಣಾವಸ್ಥೆಗೆ ತರು, ಜೀರ್ಣವಾಗು, ಹಾಳು ಬೀಳು, ಶಿಥಿಲವಾಗು

Forms of dilapidate

Verb
third-person singular presentdilapidates
present participledilapidating
past participledilapidated
pastdilapidated
Adjective
comparativemore dilapidate
superlativemost dilapidate

Origin of dilapidate

From Latin dilapidō (“to scatter, consume, throw away”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), from dis- (“asunder”) + lapidō (“to stone”), from lapis (“stone”). Compare French dilapider.

Learned borrowing from Latin dīlapidātus, perfect passive participle of dilapidō (“squander, consume, throw away”), see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

Questions about dilapidate

What does dilapidate mean?
Dilapidate means to cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
What is dilapidate in Urdu?
Dilapidate in Urdu is برباد کرنا, کھنڈر بنانا. See Dilapidate meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is dilapidate?
Dilapidate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce dilapidate?
Dilapidate is pronounced /dɪˈlæp.ɪ.deɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of dilapidate?
The past tense of dilapidate is dilapidated.

Words near dilapidate in the dictionary

  1. dilaniate
  2. dilaniated
  3. dilaniates
  4. dilaniation
  5. dilanthanum
  6. dilapidate
  7. dilapidated
  8. dilapidatedly
  9. dilapidatedness
  10. dilapidates
  11. dilapidating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dilapidate (page history and authors); dilapidate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dilapidate (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dilapidate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dilapidate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dilapidate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.