derelict
/ˈdɛɹəˌlɪk(t)/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of property: in a poor state due to abandonment or neglect; dilapidated, neglected.
noun
Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[T]heſe affections, vvhich theſe expoſed or derelict children bear to their Mothers, have no grounds of nature or aſſiduity but civility and opinion; […]"
- "We may be pardoned our nostalgia, those of us who can remember the old days, the days before the grouping and before standardisation, when we see, as today we see so often, the derelict and abandoned buildings of what were once railway stations, for the life which they used to enjoy we lived with them. There they stand, today, as the dusk deepens about them, lampless, cold and deserted."
- "There was a derelict ship on the island."
- "An imaginative illustration showing how a space tow-boat (lower left), operating with a plasma electric rocket motor, takes a derelict satellite out of the traffic lanes in deep space."
- "When and where did NASA's derelict satellite go down? [title]"
- "There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *linékʷti Proto-Italic *linkʷō Latin linquō Latin relinquō Latin dērelictusbor. English derelict The adjective and verb are a learned borrowing from Latin dērelictus (“(completely) abandoned, deserted, forsaken; discarded”), the perfect passive participle of dērelinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake; to discard”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; completely, thoroughly’) + relinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake, leave (behind); to depart (from); to give up, relinquish”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”). Doublet of relict, relic, and relinquish. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *leykʷ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɛɹəˌlɪk(t)/
- British English: /ˈdɛr.ə.lɪkt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more derelict (comparative)
most derelict (superlative)
derelicts (plural)
derelicts (present, singular)
derelicting (participle, present)
derelicted (participle, past)
derelicted (past)