Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Deserted by an owner or keeper; abandoned.
  • adjective Run-down; dilapidated.
  • adjective Neglectful of duty or obligation; remiss. synonym: negligent.
  • noun A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant.
  • noun Abandoned property, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
  • noun Land left dry by a permanent recession of the water line.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Left; abandoned by the owner or guardian.
  • Unfaithful; neglectful of requirement or responsibility: as, derelict in duty.
  • noun That which is abandoned; in law, an article of goods or any commodity thrown away, relinquished, or abandoned by the owner; specifically, a vessel abandoned at sea.
  • noun Land left dry by a change of the water-line.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A thing voluntary abandoned or willfully cast away by its proper owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
  • noun A tract of land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use.
  • adjective Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned.
  • adjective Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Abandoned, forsaken; (of ship) abandoned at sea; dilapidated, neglected.
  • adjective Negligent in performing a duty.
  • noun Property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
  • noun dated An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast.
  • noun A homeless and/or jobless person; a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their personal affairs and hygiene. (This sense is a modern development of the preceding sense.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a ship abandoned on the high seas
  • adjective worn and broken down by hard use
  • adjective failing in what duty requires
  • noun a person without a home, job, or property
  • adjective in deplorable condition
  • adjective forsaken by owner or inhabitants

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin dērelictus, past participle of dērelinquere, to abandon : dē-, de- + relinquere, to leave behind; see relinquish.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin derelictus perfect participle of dērelinquō ("I forsake, I abandon") from dē- + relinquō ("I forsake, I leave").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Those members derelict in these duties had to pay a one-dollar fine.

    September 14, 2010

  • Which members?

    September 14, 2010