All 3 Uses of
derelict
in
The War of the Worlds
- The barrow of ginger beer stood, a queer derelict, black against the burning sky, and in the sand pits was a row of deserted vehicles with their horses feeding out of nosebags or pawing the ground.†
Chpt 1.4
- Directly below him the balloonist would have seen the network of streets far and wide, houses, churches, squares, crescents, gardens—already derelict—spread out like a huge map, and in the southward blotted.†
Chpt 1.17
- It was a city condemned and derelict.... In South Kensington the streets were clear of dead and of black powder.†
Chpt 2.8 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(derelict as in: derelict in her duty) failing to fulfill one's responsibilities -- especially through lack of effort
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(2)
(derelict as in: derelict ship) in terrible condition and/or abandoned
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely (and typically in older literature), derelict can refer to a person who is unable to support himself and is abandoned by society.