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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dilapidate.

To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈlæp.ɪ.deɪt/UK, US/dəˈlæp.ə.deɪt/UK, US
  1. To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.

    transitive
  2. To squander or waste.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To fall into ruin or disuse.

    archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

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

adj
  1. dilapidated

    archaic · obsolete
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.