A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
derelict
In maritime usage, a derelict is a vessel abandoned at sea by everyone aboard with no intention of returning to it and no expectation of recovering it. That is a specific legal status rather than a loose description, and it separates a derelict from a ship merely left unattended. On land, the word describes ground or a structure that has been let go: a derelict quay, derelict industrial land, an orchard gone derelict.
Etymology
The word comes from Latin and means, roughly, left behind completely. It is built from the ordinary verb meaning to leave, with two prefixes stacked in front of it for emphasis, so the sense is not just abandoned but abandoned utterly. The same construction gives relinquish and relic. The phrase dereliction of duty uses the noun in its original and stronger sense.
Notes
Maritime law sorts abandoned property into categories that are still in use: flotsam is what floats free from a wreck, jetsam is what was deliberately thrown overboard, lagan is what was sunk with a buoy attached to mark it for recovery, and derelict is what was given up on entirely. Derelict land is the term British planning law uses for ground so damaged by previous use that it cannot be used again without treatment.