derelict Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a person without a home, job, or property
noun a ship abandoned on the high seas
abandoned ship.
adjective satellite worn and broken down by hard use
run-down; woebegone; creaky; decrepit; flea-bitten.
- a creaky shack
- a decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction tape
- a flea-bitten sofa
- a run-down neighborhood
- a woebegone old shack
adjective satellite forsaken by owner or inhabitants
deserted; abandoned.
- weed-grown yard of an abandoned farmhouse
adjective satellite failing in what duty requires
neglectful; delinquent; remiss.
- derelict (or delinquent) in his duty
- neglectful of his duties
- remiss of you not to pay your bills
adjective satellite in deplorable condition
dilapidated; broken-down; tumble-down; tatterdemalion; ramshackle; bedraggled.
- a street of bedraggled tenements
- a broken-down fence
- a ramshackle old pier
- a tumble-down shack

L. derelictus, p. p. of derelinquere to forsake wholly, to abandon; de- + relinquere to leave. See Relinquish.

Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned; as, derelict lands.
The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.
Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful.
They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his [Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy. Burke.

A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties. J. Buchanan.

(Law) (a) A thing voluntary abandoned or willfully cast away by its proper owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea. (b) A tract of land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use.