DERELICT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does derelict mean? 

• DERELICT (noun)
  The noun DERELICT has 2 senses:

1. a person without a home, job, or property

2. a ship abandoned on the high seas

  Familiarity information: DERELICT used as a noun is rare.

• DERELICT (adjective)
  The adjective DERELICT has 4 senses:

1. worn and broken down by hard use

2. forsaken by owner or inhabitants

3. failing in what duty requires

4. in deplorable condition

  Familiarity information: DERELICT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DERELICT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person without a home, job, or property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("derelict" is a kind of...):

pauper (a person who is very poor)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A ship abandoned on the high seas

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

abandoned ship; derelict

Hypernyms ("derelict" is a kind of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Derivation:

derelict (forsaken by owner or inhabitants)

• DERELICT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Worn and broken down by hard use

Synonyms:

creaky; decrepit; derelict; flea-bitten; run-down; woebegone

Context example:

a woebegone old shack

Similar:

worn (affected by wear; damaged by long use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Forsaken by owner or inhabitants

Synonyms:

abandoned; derelict; deserted

Context example:

weed-grown yard of an abandoned farmhouse

Similar:

uninhabited (not having inhabitants; not lived in)

Derivation:

derelict (a ship abandoned on the high seas)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Failing in what duty requires

Synonyms:

delinquent; derelict; neglectful; remiss

Context example:

remiss of you not to pay your bills

Similar:

negligent (characterized by neglect and undue lack of concern)

Sense 4

Meaning:

In deplorable condition

Synonyms:

bedraggled; broken-down; derelict; dilapidated; ramshackle; tatterdemalion; tumble-down

Context example:

a tumble-down shack

Similar:

damaged (harmed or injured or spoiled)

 Context examples 

The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange change, the last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The men working the searchlight, after scouring the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the light on the derelict and kept it there.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I shall send, in time for your next issue, further details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into harbour in the storm.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a derelict.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)