DERELICT

bedraggled, broken-down, derelict, dilapidated, ramshackle, tatterdemalion, tumble-down

(adjective) in deplorable condition; “a street of bedraggled tenements”; “a broken-down fence”; “a ramshackle old pier”; “a tumble-down shack”

derelict, delinquent, neglectful, remiss

(adjective) failing in what duty requires; “derelict (or delinquent) in his duty”; “neglectful of his duties”; “remiss of you not to pay your bills”

abandoned, derelict, deserted

(adjective) forsaken by owner or inhabitants; “weed-grown yard of an abandoned farmhouse”

creaky, decrepit, derelict, flea-bitten, run-down, woebegone

(adjective) worn and broken down by hard use; “a creaky shack”; “a decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction tape”; “a flea-bitten sofa”; “a run-down neighborhood”; “a woebegone old shack”

derelict

(noun) a person without a home, job, or property

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

derelict (comparative more derelict, superlative most derelict)

Abandoned, forsaken; given up by the natural owner or guardian; (of a ship) abandoned at sea, dilapidated, neglected; (of a spacecraft) abandoned in outer space.

Negligent in performing a duty.

Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful.

Synonyms

• (abandoned): abandoned

Noun

derelict (plural derelicts)

Property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.

(dated) An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast.

A homeless and/or jobless person; a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their personal affairs and hygiene. (This sense is a modern development of the preceding sense.)

Anagrams

• relicted, reticled

Source: Wiktionary


Der"e*lict, a. Etym: [L. derelictus, p. p. of derelinquere to forsake wholly, to abandon; de- + relinquere to leave. See Relinquish.]

1. Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned; as, derelict lands. The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.

2. Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful. They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his [Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy. Burke. A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties. J. Buchanan.

Der"e*lict, n. (Law) (a) A thing voluntary abandoned or willfully cast away by its proper owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea. (b) A tract of land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 November 2024

ONCHOCERCIASIS

(noun) infestation with slender threadlike roundworms (filaria) deposited under the skin by the bite of black fleas; when the eyes are involved it can result in blindness; common in Africa and tropical America


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