dereliction
/dɛrəˈlɪkʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1The state of having been abandoned and become dilapidated: a 15th-century farmhouse has been saved from dereliction...
- The business park will help regenerate this area disadvantaged by years of industrial decay and dereliction.
- At first he was turned down - the Commission said no-one would want to come to such a scene of industrial dereliction.
- There would have been no poll tax, race riots, rail privatisation and less industrial dereliction.
Synonyms
dilapidation, disrepair, decrepitude, deterioration, ruin, rack and ruin;
abandonment, neglect, disuse, desertion, rejection, forsaking
2 (dereliction of duty) The shameful failure to fulfil one’s obligations: the prosecution team were guilty of dereliction of duty for failing to disclose evidence [count noun]: a gross dereliction of duty by the Secretary of State...
- Investigators concluded that 18 soldiers committed war crimes ranging from murder and assault to dereliction of duty.
- And the charges he faces right now include assault, maltreatment, indecent acts, dereliction of duty, and conspiracy.
- Ministers resigned even if caught in an unbecoming controversy suggesting dereliction of duty, attracting public accountability even if without fault.
Synonyms
negligence, neglect, neglectfulness, delinquency, failure, non-performance;
carelessness, remissness, lack of care, laxity, laxness, sloppiness, slackness, irresponsibility, oversight, omission;
misconduct, unprofessionalism
informal slip-up
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin derelictio(n-), from the verb derelinquere (see derelict).