dilapidating

verb

present participle of dilapidate
as in disintegrating

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

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
  • Others rot in the California sun, disintegrating into bony fragments.
    — Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
  • The experiments have shown how a self-repair mechanism enables the spindle to stabilize itself under force and avoid disintegrating.
    — Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 29 June 2026
Definition of disintegrating
Verb
  • The case dates to March 11, 2022, when police in the Central Valley city of Merced found the girl’s decomposing body in the basement bathroom of a house.
    — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Authorities said the remains included bones believed to belong to four newborns and the decomposing body of a fifth.
    — Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026
Definition of decomposing
Verb
  • Developer John Dewberry is responsible for the site, and has a reputation for leaving half-finished, moldering construction projects in his wake.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 15 July 2026
  • They were set in crumbling castles and moldering dungeons—that is, amid the rubble of a collapsing social order.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
Definition of moldering
Verb
  • The Kremlin has also started to systematically target Ukrainian ports and ships in the Black Sea in hopes of degrading the infrastructure that supports the country’s agricultural exports.
    — Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 31 July 2026
  • In a public service announcement Thursday, the agencies said water and wastewater utilities have reported incidents to the FBI, with some malicious activity degrading water operations.
    — Daniel Arkin, NBC news, 31 July 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
  • Rolling blackouts, water scarcity, crumbling hospitals, and shortages of food and medicine had become routine.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 30 July 2026
  • As well as Shusha, Azerbaijan had recaptured the entire lowlands, seven districts that had been crumbling undisturbed for three decades.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
Definition of crumbling
Verb
  • Plants and animals keenly sense the diminishing light, which acts as a master biological clock that triggers changes such as migration, shifting hormone levels and winter coat growth.
    — Charles Seabrook, AJC.com, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Without diminishing that aspect of music, Musical Bodies rightly situates as much meaning in the objects themselves.
    — Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of diminishing
Verb
  • Validation rules, schema standards and completeness checks at the entry point prevent bad master data from corrupting everything downstream.
    — Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Character also involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 31 May 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
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dilapidating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dilapidating. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of invidious

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?

Why does English have so many silent letters?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Aug. 7

How long is a jiffy?
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All