dilapidate

From Latin dilapidō (“to scatter, consume, throw away”) +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix), from dis- (“asunder”) +‎ lapidō (“to stone”), from lapis (“stone”). Compare French dilapider.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈlæp.ɪ.deɪt/, /dəˈlæp.ə.deɪt/

• Audio (US):

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dilapidate (third-person singular simple present dilapidates, present participle dilapidating, simple past and past participle dilapidated)

1. (transitive) To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     If the bishop, parson, or vicar, etc., dilapidates the buildings, or cuts down the timber of the patrimony […]

   • 1883, George Bernard Shaw, chapter VI, in An Unsocial Socialist:

     In the last days of autumn he had whitewashed the chalet, painted the doors, windows, and veranda, repaired the roof and interior, and improved the place so much that the landlord had warned him that the rent would be raised at the expiration of his twelvemonth's tenancy, remarking that a tenant could not reasonably expect to have a pretty, rain-tight dwelling-house for the same money as a hardly habitable ruin. Smilash had immediately promised to dilapidate it to its former state at the end of the year.

2. (transitive, figurative) To squander or waste.
   • 1692, Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses:

     The patrimony of the bishopric of Oxon was much dilapidated.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To fall into ruin or disuse.

• lapidate

From Learned borrowing from Latin dīlapidātus, perfect passive participle of dilapidō (“squander, consume, throw away”), see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

dilapidate (comparative more dilapidate, superlative most dilapidate)

1. (archaic, obsolete) dilapidated

dilapidate

1. inflection of dilapidare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

dilapidate f pl

1. feminine plural of dilapidato

dīlapidāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dīlapidō

dilapidate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of dilapidar combined with te