DECREPIT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does decrepit mean? 

• DECREPIT (adjective)
  The adjective DECREPIT has 2 senses:

1. worn and broken down by hard use

2. lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality

  Familiarity information: DECREPIT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECREPIT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Worn and broken down by hard use

Synonyms:

creaky; decrepit; derelict; flea-bitten; run-down; woebegone

Context example:

a woebegone old shack

Similar:

worn (affected by wear; damaged by long use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality

Synonyms:

debile; decrepit; feeble; infirm; rickety; sapless; weak; weakly

Context example:

her body looked sapless

Similar:

frail (physically weak)

 Context examples 

Then, having taken another look round, I returned to my carriage, where I found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their eyelashes were frosted white, as were their muzzles, and they had all the seeming of decrepit old age, what of the frost-rime and exhaustion.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In this case, looking at the bold, strong hand of the one, and the rather broken-backed appearance of the other, which still retains its legibility although the t’s have begun to lose their crossing, we can say that the one was a young man and the other was advanced in years without being positively decrepit.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)