Word.ws English Dictionary

dilapidated

UK/dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtəd/

dilapidated is the simple past and past participle of dilapidate.

Meaning of dilapidate

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
  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.

See all 4 meanings of dilapidate

Adjective

dilapidated (comparative more dilapidated, superlative most dilapidated)

  1. Having fallen into a state of disrepair or deterioration, especially through neglect.
    • Their stately offices—their pleasant gardens—the magnificent cloisters constructed for their recreation, were all dilapidated and ruinous; […]1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and...
    • It was a strange scene, the contrasts which met in that large but dilapidated chamber. It had been the banqueting-hall in the ancient palace of the La Franchi, but the revelry and the splendour had long since passed away.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 6
    Synonyms:
    ramshackle

Synonyms of dilapidated

Forms of dilapidated

comparativemore dilapidated
superlativemost dilapidated

Words formed from dilapidated

Questions about dilapidated

What does dilapidated mean?
Dilapidated means having fallen into a state of disrepair or deterioration, especially through neglect.
What is dilapidated the simple past and past participle of?
Dilapidated is the simple past and past participle of dilapidate.
What part of speech is dilapidated?
Dilapidated is an adjective.
How do you pronounce dilapidated?
Dilapidated is pronounced /dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtəd/ (UK).

Words near dilapidated in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dilapidated (page history and authors); dilapidate (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-dilapidated.ogg.

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