Definition of DERELICT

derelict

Meanings

Plural: derelicts

Noun

  • a person without a home, job, or property
  • a ship abandoned on the high seas
  • Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
  • Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
  • Property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; (countable) an item of such property, especially a ship.
  • An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast, a waif.
  • A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant; also, a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their hygiene and personal affairs.
  • A person who is negligent in performing a duty.

Adjective Satellite

  • worn and broken down by hard use
  • forsaken by owner or inhabitants
  • failing in what duty requires
    • "derelict (or delinquent) in his duty"
  • in deplorable condition

Adj

  • Given up by the guardian or owner; abandoned, forsaken.
  • Given up by the guardian or owner; abandoned, forsaken.
  • Of a ship: abandoned at sea; of a spacecraft: abandoned in outer space.
  • Of property: in a poor state due to abandonment or neglect; dilapidated, neglected.
  • Adrift, lost.
  • Negligent in performing a duty; careless.

Verb

  • To abandon or forsake (someone or something).
  • To neglect a duty.

Origin / Etymology

PIE word
*de
The adjective and verb are a learned borrowing from Latin dērelictus (“(completely) abandoned, deserted, forsaken; discarded”), the perfect passive participle of dērelinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake; to discard”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; completely, thoroughly’) + relinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake, leave (behind); to depart (from); to give up, relinquish”) (from Proto-Italic *wrelinkʷō, from *wre (“again”) (whence Latin rē- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + *linkʷō (“to leave”) (whence linquō (“to forsake; depart from, leave, quit”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”))). Doublet of relict, relic, and relinquish.
The noun is derived from the adjective.

Scrabble Score: 11

derelict is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
derelict is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
derelict is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

derelict is a valid Words With Friends word