dilapidate

verb

Definition of dilapidatenext
as in to putrefy

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dilapidate At the center of the woods, off Haven Beach Road, was a solitary and dilapidated Colonial homestead that burned to the ground. — Bree Sposato, Travel + Leisure, 28 Apr. 2023 Hamdok found that the legacy of 30 years of dictatorship meant that Sudan’s political and economic models were dilapidated. — Justin Lynch, CNN, 17 Apr. 2023 The initial goal was to repair and renovate it; however, this proved to be impossible as the original structure was too dilapidated. — Kimberley Mok, Treehugger, 28 Mar. 2023 The towers would replace a four-acre debris heap where the famed but dilapidated Deauville Beach Resort from the 1950s sat until courts ordered it to be imploded. — Mark Bisnow, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2023 See All Example Sentences for dilapidate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dilapidate
  1. putrefy
  2. decompose
  3. disintegrate
  4. corrupt
  5. degrade
  6. diminish
  7. recede
  8. downsize
Verb
  • Repeating the experiment with other plants, including tomatoes and wheat, yielded similar results—but an encounter with putrefying animal tissues had no effect.
    — Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 17 Oct. 2026
  • East of Eden is a tome obsessed with guilt, sin, ambition, race, the land as healing and capitalism as putrefying, the nature of fate and the question of free will, and the role money and inheritance play in either our corruption or our cleansing.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of putrefy
Verb
  • The first responding officer opened one of the suitcases and discovered a woman's decomposing body -- naked, bound with rope and in a fetal position.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Remnants of a wooden spear weren’t found near the Neanderthal’s remains, which is understandable since the material often decomposes so quickly.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of decompose
Verb
  • Some classic stuffing recipes call for plain white bread, which will likely absorb too much moisture and disintegrate.
    — Kendra Vaculin, Bon Appetit Magazine, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Whatever one believes about the allegations against the couple, the devastation of watching an academic and media career disintegrate in real time is difficult to dismiss.
    — Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of disintegrate
Verb
  • The original 1971 experiment was conducted by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, who arbitrarily split volunteers into two groups—inmates and guards—and observed how power corrupted them.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Rousseau argued that societies were happiest before agriculture and metal production corrupted them.
    — Saar Shahar, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of corrupt
Verb
  • At rates faster than the cap, the internet degrades and is no longer usable.
    — Jennifer Jacobs, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Living with neck and back pain from stress, tension, poor posture and other causes can seriously degrade your quality of life, but Therabody's latest innovation can help.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of degrade
Verb
  • Though apparently diminishing his own roster is part of the team's motivational playbook.
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Granderson doesn’t believe that repeat celebrations diminish the significance of the ultimate prize, the World Series.
    — Don Riddell, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of diminish
Verb
  • The Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is perhaps the greatest chronicler of that era of scale, which stretched across the long twentieth century and only now shows the first signs of receding.
    — Bill McKibben, The New York Review of Books, 17 Oct. 2026
  • But that narrative around obsolescence has largely receded in the intervening months, as strong earnings expectations and new AI products and partnerships out of the sector revived investor confidence.
    — Sarah Min, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of recede
Verb
  • John Krasinski and Emily Blunt appear to have downsized their Brooklyn Heights suite of apartments.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The primary market is adults who want to downsize large one-family houses and relocate to a home expressly designed for seniors.
    — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of downsize

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Cite this Entry

“Dilapidate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dilapidate. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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