#synonymiser Hello, dear readers! Thanks for staying in! I seem to have found a good free source of searchable authentic English – Thesaurus.com. I have known about it before but never really used it in this way. It will certainly help me with finding relevant samples of English for my sysnonymisers in the future. Let's now jump into the word list I have prepared: these are all adjectives descriping different types of dilapidation. Please note that the adjective run-down must be hyphenated when used in this sense. 🔶decrepit – worn out by long use; weakend by old age ▫️I had walked into that reading room a happy, healthy man. I crawled out a decrepit wreck. (Gerome K. Gerome – Three Men in a Boat to Say Nothing of the Dog) ▫️The fourth-largest city in Spain had lost its former glory as a manufacturing centre: its factories shuttered, its port decrepit. (The Guardian) 🔸dilapidated – in poor condition and decay due to wear, age or neglect ▫️There were three men in sight, one of whom was a policeman; a market cart full of cabbages, and a dilapidated-looking cab. (Gerome K. Gerome – Three Men in a Boat to Say Nothing of the Dog) ▫️With no fresh cash coming in, the graveyard had become a dilapidated embarrassment. (Washington Post) 🔸shabby – looking old and impaired by wear ▫️If I were to ask you to lend me fifty pounds, which I would repay you next midsummer, and I did not repay you, I should consider myself a shabby sort of fellow, especially if you wanted the money badly. (Thomas Hardy – Life's Little Ironies) ▫️A friend sees Etta in a bookstore, in her shabby daily costume – a “wrinkled old evening gown” and sneakers. (The Washington Post) 🔸ramshackle – loosely made and unkempt-looking, and likely to break or fall easily ▫️Mayorga evokes ramshackle dwellings of her native Colombia and elsewhere with “Beautiful Facade,” a pink-painted cardboard and wood model. (The Washington Post) ▫️They set out a strong set of “best practices” to modernize and improve the ramshackle way our democracy runs elections. (The Daily Beast) ▫️Manchester United in its current state can remind a neutral observer of an afore glamorous edifice that has become a ramshackle, leaky shed. 🔸run-down – in very bad condition due to continued active use without proper maintenance or lack of care ▫️This railway line has looked pretty run-down since being out of use for nearly a decade. ▫️Once a thriving area with a well-run factory, with years of economic decline and shrinking demand it has turned into a run-down, vandalised site. 🔸rickety – unsound to the point of being likely to break ▫️There were taxis, called “hackneys,” which were rickety stagecoaches cast off by the rich and repurposed as transport for hire. (The Daily Beast) ▫️The going rate for life jackets on board the dangerously rickety vessels tops $200, whether for men, women or children. (The Daily Beast) 🔸derelict – not cared for and in bad condition ▫️Favelas in Brazil are derelict densely populated areas with a high level of crime and low living standards. ▫️Due to the centralisation of power and corruption stemming from top to bottom in Russia's political hierarchy and a lack of adequate public control, many people in remote regions of Russia live in extremely derelict real estate. ▫️The couple has bought one of Detroit’s many derelict homes, which can cost just a few thousand dollars, and are renovating it themselves. (Time)