How to Use dilapidated in a Sentence

dilapidated

adjective
  • On one side of the stage, housing the band, is the dilapidated façade of a suburban home on a tilt, as if dropped from the sky.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2023
  • The goal hung on a dilapidated barn on a dirt driveway.
    Dana Hunsinger Benbow, USA TODAY, 22 Aug. 2022
  • The housing stock is old, and much of it is dilapidated.
    Adam Davidson, The New Yorker, 1 July 2021
  • The church demolished the dilapidated school but used the bricks in the new construction.
    al, 9 Sep. 2022
  • The home appeared to be in a dilapidated state, as hinges were missing from the roof and a piece of the roof’s eaves appeared to have detached.
    Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 14 July 2024
  • The truck drove off the main highway, onto dirt roads, and stopped near a dilapidated shack.
    Beth Warren, USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2024
  • In this one, from 1977, a dilapidated plane strafes a field of civilians mid-prayer.
    New York Times, 15 Oct. 2020
  • The home's dilapidated kitchen features a wall of jack-o'-lanterns.
    Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 10 May 2023
  • What there is is a lot of dilapidated former mill sites that have docks.
    Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 Sep. 2021
  • Salmon was one of the most poignant examples — in the last two decades, the district failed to pass around a dozen bonds to replace its dilapidated schools.
    ProPublica, 24 May 2024
  • So prices for bringing a dilapidated home back to life should start at about €5,000.
    Silvia Marchetti, CNN, 21 Aug. 2021
  • At the time, the site contained an dilapidated older home, Ms. Cer said.
    Katherine Clarke, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2023
  • The deserted farm and dilapidated house across the road showed no signs of recent use.
    Michael Standaert and Eva Dou, Anchorage Daily News, 11 Oct. 2021
  • Halleck said a dilapidated house on the property would be razed as part of the overall project.
    Karen Caffarini, chicagotribune.com, 2 Apr. 2021
  • In other words, putting a gleaming new bathroom in a dilapidated house is like putting a bow on a burro.
    Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel, 9 Sep. 2022
  • But a $389 million deal to rebuild the dilapidated Pimlico and keep it as the home of the Preakness was hammered out last year.
    Jean Marbella, baltimoresun.com, 3 Oct. 2020
  • By the 1970s, the zone had become dilapidated and crime-filled, part of the inspiration for the TV show Miami Vice.
    Jennifer Barger, Travel, 3 Dec. 2020
  • Look down and there’s the PCH, that artery of iconic road trips, with super-exotic sports cars and dilapidated surf vans.
    Kristin Scharkey, Sunset Magazine, 11 Jan. 2022
  • Watkins sits on a dilapidated sofa, near the table and beat-up chairs someone threw way.
    John Johnston, The Enquirer, 25 Dec. 2020
  • Then Lynsey is on a bus heading back to her dilapidated working-class childhood home in New Orleans, which is where the bulk of the story takes place.
    Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2022
  • Our run-down apartment in the boondocks of Houston looked better than the view of the tombstones right outside our dilapidated home on wheels.
    Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2022
  • The city has also used social media to respond to the photos of dirty, dilapidated Paris.
    Washington Post, 20 Jan. 2022
  • In 2011, Lau fought to save the dilapidated home, using a local land trust program to reclaim it.
    Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2021
  • People stayed warm under a tarp jutting from the back of the dilapidated two-story house.
    oregonlive, 20 Feb. 2021
  • To use the dilapidated zoo buildings as a cool backdrop for her son's and his girlfriend's prom photos.
    Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, 15 Oct. 2024
  • Old and dilapidated, paint peeling off the wood – white above, red below.
    Gregg Doyel indianapolis Star, The Indianapolis Star, 23 Jan. 2023
  • When the decision is made to sell the dilapidated town, however, the woman and her home in the center of town become obstacles to the plan.
    Ed Meza, Variety, 18 Mar. 2023
  • On a visit to the city of Slonim in Belarus, Ilona Reeves fell in love with a 380-year-old dilapidated building that used to house one of the area’s largest and oldest synagogues.
    Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, 10 Mar. 2021
  • But when sections of the rickety ladder break off from the dilapidated tower, Becky and Hunter are left stranded.
    Todd Spangler, Variety, 9 Aug. 2022
  • Her sweet idiot of a neighbor stood on the unlit front porch of his dilapidated brick rancher as the sun dipped below the horizon and shadows stretched to swallow him.
    Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 19 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dilapidated.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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