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
  • Because lose-lose situations are so endemic to the genre, a hint of relief can sometimes accompany the prospect of surrender to the putrefying mob.
    — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
  • Fast-forward to now, and the scene has putrefied into a wasteland of the percussive undead.
    — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 2 July 2025
Definition of putrefy
Verb
  • The study hypothesized that the sickle was added before the body fully decomposed since no joints were detached or displaced, as archaeologists would expect if a grave were to be disturbed after the body became a skeleton.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Agents plan and reason, decompose goals into steps, call external tools and iterate without being prompted at each turn.
    — Hemant Kashyap, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of decompose
Verb
  • Just seconds later, in a separate incident, the Brazilian F50 was about to go into a standard jibe maneuver (turning the boat through the wind to change direction) but disintegrated in the blink of an eye.
    — Andrew Rice, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Tim Graham/Getty Images Most Popular Nader’s empire quickly disintegrated into chaos.
    — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of disintegrate
Verb
  • There, Prue must go on a journey to save her younger brother Mac from crows led by a woman named Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), who captures Curtis and attempts to corrupt him for her own mysterious purposes.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 19 Aug. 2026
  • As a result, the notion of utopia became increasingly associated with the sci-fi genre, while the idea of creating a perfect social order here on earth was corrupted by totalitarian regimes.
    — Carline Tromp, The Dial, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupt
Verb
  • Iran is unlikely to give up the leverage offered by having proxies spread across the region, even if some of them have been degraded by Israel or lost a foothold thanks to regime change, as is the case in Syria.
    — Tim Lister, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • But now, Wright says Wendy’s has drifted from some of those qualities, telling investors that decisions made in the interest of cost and efficiency had degraded some of the food quality that set the chain apart.
    — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of degrade
Verb
  • The term refers to when tobacco companies in the 1990s were forced to pay billions of dollars for misleading the public about the safety and potential harms of their products, and subsequently saw their power and influence dramatically diminished.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The filter significantly diminishes elements commonly found in water that can be damaging, like chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, heavy metals, and more.
    — Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of diminish
Verb
  • When Lake Mead last plunged to record-low water levels in 2022, its dramatically receding shoreline revealed all manner of curiosities.
    — Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
  • In August 2025, the remains of a British researcher who vanished in 1959 in Antarctica were discovered amid rocks near a receding glacier on King George Island, located off the Antarctic Peninsula.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of recede
Verb
  • The oldest baby boomers turn 80 this year, and won’t typically start downsizing until their mid-80s, meaning the inventory constraints that have locked millennials out of the market have another decade to run.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The deal is also a reminder that a growing number of empty retail spaces once operated by merchants that are defunct or downsizing are being picked up by a new generation of retailers and other types of companies.
    — George Avalos, Mercury News, 17 Aug. 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 Aug. 2026.

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