Definition

1. Adjective:

   • In a very poor condition due to neglect or abandonment: Describes something that is dilapidated, broken down, or in a state of disrepair because it has been left unused or uncared for.
   • Failing in duty; neglectful: Describes a person who is guilty of failing to perform a duty or obligation.

2. Noun:

   • An abandoned ship: A ship that has been deserted by its crew and left adrift at sea.
   • A person without a home, job, or property; a social outcast: A person who is destitute and has been abandoned by society.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The derelict factory was overgrown with weeds and had broken windows.
  • The officer was charged with being derelict in his duties for failing to file the report.
• Noun:
  • The coast guard boarded the derelict found floating off the coast.
  • The charity provides food and shelter for the derelicts of the city.

Advanced Usage

• "Derelict of duty": A formal phrase meaning having failed to perform one's duty.
  • The soldier was court-martialed for being derelict of duty.
• "Derelict property": Refers to land or buildings that are abandoned and in a state of decay.
  • The city plans to redevelop the derelict property downtown.

Variants and Related Words

• Dereliction (n): The state of being abandoned or the act of abandoning; a willful neglect of duty.
  • The dereliction of the old mine led to dangerous conditions.
  • His dereliction of duty was a serious offense.

Synonyms

• Adjective (condition): Dilapidated, decrepit, ramshackle, run-down, tumbledown.
• Adjective (neglectful): Negligent, remiss, delinquent.
• Noun (person): Vagrant, outcast, vagabond.

Related Phrases

• "Leave derelict": To abandon something, leaving it in a ruined state.
  • The company left the site derelict for years.

Related Idioms

• "A derelict hulk": Often used to describe a large, abandoned, and decaying structure or vehicle.
  • The old factory stood as a derelict hulk on the riverbank.

Adjective

1. in deplorable condition
   • a street of bedraggled tenements
   • a broken-down fence
   • a ramshackle old pier
   • a tumble-down shack
2. failing in what duty requires
   • derelict (or delinquent) in his duty
   • neglectful of his duties
   • remiss of you not to pay your bills
3. forsaken by owner or inhabitants
   • weed-grown yard of an abandoned farmhouse
4. worn and broken down by hard use
   • a creaky shack
   • a decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction tape
   • a flea-bitten sofa
   • a run-down neighborhood
   • a woebegone old shack

Noun

1. a ship abandoned on the high seas
2. a person without a home, job, or property