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
  • With all the rain from storms recently, our streets and roads are disintegrating faster.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026
  • In just four years, Keegan had spurred a disintegrating club into a united entity known for its energy and style, cherished as the ‘Entertainers’.
    — Michael Walker, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of disintegrating
Verb
  • After receiving a complaint, police officers and a state regulator found more than 50 decomposing bodies at South Chicago Chapel in the city’s South Deering neighborhood.
    — Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
  • As excavations for the foundation got underway, bones and decomposing bodies were found, releasing a horrid odor and spreading yellow fever across the island.
    — Victoria Davies, Rolling Stone, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of decomposing
Verb
  • 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
  • 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
Definition of moldering
Verb
  • For instance, excess ions fail to enter the graphite quickly enough and form performance-degrading metallic deposits on the surface (lithium plating).
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The Tate brothers built a global following, became extremely wealthy, and gained cultural and political influence by degrading and harming women.
    — Jodi Bondi Norgaard, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 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
  • On a nearby section of the coast, crews have been placing rock to shore up a crumbling coastline and keep nearby trains running.
    — Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • When a team is crumbling, a rare sturdy presence becomes much more than an afterthought.
    — Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of crumbling
Verb
  • Seemingly, the only thing that could slow down the automobile takeover was diminishing fuel supplies, fear of which had become a fixation of American oil companies and government officials after the Armistice.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Having already weathered so many attacks aimed at diminishing its power, the remaining Iranian leadership, which learned to tolerate hardship in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, is unlikely to be cowed by further aggression.
    — JAMES F. JEFFREY, Foreign Affairs, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of diminishing
Verb
  • Instead, in trying to explain what made both Murdoch and Lamb tick in those early days, Boyle and Graham show us just how intoxicating and corrupting this kind of success can be.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The Apology is Plato’s version of the speech of self-defense Socrates gives when he is tried by the city of Athens for corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods.
    — Agnes Callard, The New York Review of Books, 18 Aug. 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 6 Sep. 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!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

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

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
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
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All