dilapidation
/dəˌlæp.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/
dilapidation means the state of being dilapidated, reduced to decay, partially ruined. It carries an Arena rating of 1615, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dilapidation ranks #1,093 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,094 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,262 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,335 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
dilapidation is pronounced /dəˌlæp.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/.
Why “dilapidation” is a great word
DILAPIDATION — [Noun] The state of disrepair or decay of a building or structure, especially as a result of neglect. From the verb dilapidate, from Medieval Latin dilapidatus, past participle of dilapidare ("to squander, destroy"), from Latin dis- ("apart") + lapidare ("to throw stones, to stone"), from lapis, lapidis ("stone"). First attested in English in the mid-15th century. Unlike "dereliction" (which emphasizes the act of abandonment) or "decrepitude" (which suggests a general enfeeblement of age), dilapidation is the slow, material consequence of inattention. It is the sag of a rain-soaked roof-beam, the splintered touch of a dry-rotted windowsill, and the map of damp blooming across a plaster wall. It is the slow, stony unraveling of a thing once made to shelter.
Etymology
From dilapidate.
noun
- The state of being dilapidated, reduced to decay, partially ruined.
- The act of dilapidating, damaging a building or structure through neglect or intentionally.
- Ecclesiastical waste: impairing of church property by an incumbent, through neglect or intentionally.
- Money paid at the end of an incumbency by the incumbent or his heirs for the purpose of putting the parsonage etc. in good repair for the succeeding incumbent.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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