disrepair

English

Etymology

dis- +‎ repair

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪs.ɹɪˈpɛə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪs.ɹɪˈpɛɚ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Noun

disrepair (countable and uncountable, plural disrepairs)

1. The state of being in poor condition, in need of repair.

   The sewing machine is in disrepair.

   The house had fallen into such disrepair that no agent would show it to buyers.

   • 1962 January, “Motive Power Miscellany: London Midland Region: Midland Lines”, in Modern Railways, page 59:

     All the A.C.V. four-wheel diesel railbuses are now stored in seeming disrepair at Derby Friargate.

   • 2017 January 20, Donald Trump, Inauguration speech:

     We've defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own, and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.

   • 2023 October 18, 'Industry Insider', “High speed abandoned”, in RAIL, number 994, page 68:

     The overriding reason that the public estate - be it roads, hospitals or schools - has fallen into disrepair is the continuing lack of economic growth, which has meant no budget can be found to keep assets in a good state of repair.

Synonyms

• unrepair

Translations

the state of being in poor condition

• Bulgarian: неизправност (bg) f (neizpravnost)
• Italian: rovina (it) f, sfacelo (it) m
• Polish: zapaść (pl) f
• Russian: неиспра́вность (ru) f (neisprávnostʹ)

Verb

disrepair (third-person singular simple present disrepairs, present participle disrepairing, simple past and past participle disrepaired)

1. (intransitive, rare) To get into a state of disrepair.
   • 1971, John Oliver Killens, The Cotillion, Or, One Good Bull is Half the Herd‎^[1]:

     The house was disrepairing before your very eyes.