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dilapidating

verb

present participle of dilapidate
as in disintegrating

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dilapidating
  1. disintegrating
  2. decomposing
  3. moldering
  4. degrading
  5. putrefying
  6. crumbling
  7. diminishing
  8. corrupting
Verb
  • Scott’s face, in this shot, is a whole novel, disintegrating into tears before being shored up again, eventually rearranged into something resembling a welcoming smile that teeters on the edge of collapse.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The 110-floor south tower, struck shortly after the north tower by another plane, was disintegrating.
    — Diane Herbst, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of disintegrating
Verb
  • Maintain The Lawn Lovebugs lay their eggs in moist, decomposing materials.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Fifteen months later, 56 decomposing bodies were found at their South Chicago Chapel.
    — Susana Mendoza, Chicago Tribune, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of decomposing
Verb
  • Getting the rotting food off racks towering six stories high required hundreds of workers in protective suits to dislodge the moldering food.
    — Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Anna Anosowicz’s highly resourceful production design makes excellent use of existing midcentury brutalist architecture and far more ancient, enduring structures, all moldering under superficially futuristic window-dressing.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of moldering
Verb
  • The study showed that adding synthetic, non-canonical amino acids called azatryptophans to plastic-degrading enzymes (PETases) can break the trade-off between catalytic activity and thermal stability.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Simply douse it with mildly alkaline water, and the polymer begins degrading, breaking down within minutes.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of degrading
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
Definition of putrefying
Verb
  • Partly because the contracting system remains dysfunctional, the government has made little visible progress toward repairing the country’s crumbling highways.
    — Will Freeman, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026
  • McKinley stages a few bullet-sweating sequences of peril, including a particularly brutal transport of gold bars across a crumbling rope bridge and an underwater accident exacerbated by floating logs.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of crumbling
Verb
  • Meanwhile, the housing market is getting crushed by high mortgage rates and diminishing affordability, while consumers are carrying ever more expensive credit card and auto debt.
    — John W. Diamond, The Conversation, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The risk of eroding trust and diminishing stakeholder confidence by staying silent is too high.
    — Kristi Piehl, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of diminishing
Verb
  • And by engaging with these powerful militaries, the group reinforced its self-image as a major regional player that was uniquely capable of liberating the Muslim world from corrupting American and Israeli influence.
    — April Longley Alley, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Gadgets with screens of any size have long been allegedly melting, rotting, and/or corrupting the brains of youths for decades.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of corrupting
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.

Browse Nearby Words

dilapidates
dilapidating
dilapidation
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Cite this Entry

“Dilapidating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dilapidating. Accessed 24 Sep. 2026.

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