different between dilapidate vs dilapidator

English

Etymology

From Latin dilapid?tus, past participle of dilapid? (“I destroy with stones”), from dis (“intensifier”) + lapid? (“I stone”), from lapis (“stone”)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /d??læp.?.de?t/, /d??læp.?.de?t/

Verb

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

1. To fall into ruin or disuse.
2. (transitive) To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.

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

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

     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.

3. (transitive, figuratively) To squander or waste.
   • 1692, Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses

     The patrimony of the bishopric of Oxon was much dilapidated.

Related terms

• lapidate

Translations

Italian

Verb

dilapidate

1. second-person plural present indicative of dilapidare
2. second-person plural imperative of dilapidare
3. feminine plural of dilapidato

English

Etymology

From Latin, from dilapidare (“to destroy with stones”), from dis (intensive) + lapidare (“to stone”) (from lapis (“stone”)) + -tor (“-er”).

Noun

dilapidator (plural dilapidators)

1. One who dilapidates; a person causing dilapidation.

Translations