derelict

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derelict

n. something or someone who is abandoned, such as a ship left to drift at sea or a homeless person ignored by family and society.

(See: abandon, dereliction)

derelict

(Abandoned), adjective adrift, avoided, cast aside, cast off, castaway, deserted, desolate, discarded, dispensed with, excluded, forgotten, forlorn, friendless, given up, helpless, homeless, ignored, isolated, jettisoned, left, lonely, lonesome, neglected, on the fringe of society, outcast, rejected, relinquished, scorned, scrapped, set adrift, shunned, solitary, thrown overboard, uncared for, unclaimed, unfortunate, unowned, unpossessed, unwanted, wretched, written off
Associated concepts: derelict property

derelict

(Negligent), adjective careless, delinquent, disregardful, dutiless, failing in duty, faithless, faulty, improvident, inattentive, inconsiderate, indifferent, lax, neglectful, neglecting, regardless, remiss, slack, uncircumspect, unconcerned, unfaithful, unheedful, uninterested, unmindful, unobservant, unwatchful

derelict

noun displaced person, drifter, exile, ne'er-do-well, outcast, pariah, scamp, tramper, wanderer, wastrel

DERELICT, common law. This term is applied in the common law in a different sense from what it bears in the civil law. In the former it is applied to lands left by the sea.
2. When so left by degrees the derelict land belongs to the owner of the soil adjoining but when the sea retires suddenly, it belongs to the government. 2 Bl. Com. 262 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 239; 1 Sumn. 328, 490 1 Gallis. 138; Bee, R. 62, 178, 260; Ware, R. 332.

References in classic literature ?

A water-logged derelict, I think, sir," said the second officer quietly, coming down from aloft with the binoculars in their case slung across his shoulders; and our captain, without a word, signed to the helmsman to steer for the black speck.

View in context

Perhaps a century hence the Atlantic may still be dotted with the old drifting derelicts.

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He wasn't much like the usual run of derelicts who used to come out to P.

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The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

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He gained a little in strength; but his appearance never altered for the better--a human derelict, battered and wrecked, they had found him; a human derelict, battered and wrecked, he would remain until death claimed him.