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Dilapidate vs Rickety - What's the difference?

dilapidate | rickety |

As a verb dilapidate

is to fall into ruin or disuse.

As an adjective rickety is

of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of poor construction or upkeep; not safe or secure; giddy; shaky.

dilapidate

English

Verb

(dilapidat)
  • To fall into ruin or disuse.
  • To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
  • * Blackstone
  • If the bishop, parson, or vicar, etc., dilapidates the buildings, or cuts down the timber of the patrimony
  • * 1883 , , 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.
  • (figuratively) To squander or waste.
  • * Wood
  • The patrimony of the bishopric of Oxon was much dilapidated .

    rickety

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ricketty

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of poor construction or upkeep; not safe or secure; giddy; shaky.
  • He hesitated about climbing such a small, rickety ladder.
  • Of a person: feeble in the joints; tottering.
  • The rickety old man hardly managed to climb the stairs.
  • Affected with or suffering from rickets.
  • Synonyms

    * (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) precarious, unsteady, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly