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Definition of "dilapidate" [di•lap•i•date]

  • To bring or fall into a state of partial ruin, decay, or disrepair. (verb-transitive)
  • Archaic To squander; waste. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "dilapidate" in a sentence
  • "If you are left alone, that quality of education you are boasting about will crumble and dilapidate."
  • "The blatant lies of their elites continue to dilapidate the little crumbs that are still left, of what was once the "Great American Dream," - and has now become the "Great American Nightmare.""
  • "The church of Elgin had, in the intestine tumults of the barbarous ages, been laid waste by the irruption of a highland chief, whom the bishop had offended; but it was gradually restored to the state, of which the traces may be now discerned, and was at last not destroyed by the tumultuous violence of Knox, but more shamefully suffered to dilapidate by deliberate robbery and frigid indifference."