derelict

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Left empty and falling apart from neglect; run-down.

   The old factory had become a derelict building, with broken windows and a collapsing roof.

2. 2
   adj

   Failing to do what your duty requires; seriously negligent.

   The inspectors were found to be derelict in their duty after they ignored the safety warnings.

3. 3
   noun

   A person without a home or job, often living on the streets.

   A few derelicts were sleeping under the bridge to stay out of the rain.

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-Eur…

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