délabrer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French délabrer, deslabrer, equivalent to dé- +‎ a derivative of label, lambel (“strip”) or perhaps from Frankish *lappiʀu (compare Old English *lippric), from Frankish *lappā (“cloth, rag, lobe”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“corner of clothing, flap”), Old English læppa (“skirt of a garment, lappet, piece, section, lobe, portion, district”). More at lap, lappet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.la.bʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

délabrer

1. (transitive) to destroy, to ruin, (of a building) to dilapidate
   • 1874, Victor Hugo, chapter X, in Quatrevingt-treize, 3e partie:

     Sapristi, comme on t'a délabré le minois!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (pronominal) to fall into ruin, become dilapidated

Conjugation

Conjugation of délabrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	délabrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	délabrant /de.la.bʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		délabré /de.la.bʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	délabre /de.labʁ/	délabres /de.labʁ/	délabre /de.labʁ/	délabrons /de.la.bʁɔ̃/	délabrez /de.la.bʁe/	délabrent /de.labʁ/
	imperfect	délabrais /de.la.bʁɛ/	délabrais /de.la.bʁɛ/	délabrait /de.la.bʁɛ/	délabrions /de.la.bʁi.jɔ̃/	délabriez /de.la.bʁi.je/	délabraient /de.la.bʁɛ/
	past historic2	délabrai /de.la.bʁe/	délabras /de.la.bʁa/	délabra /de.la.bʁa/	délabrâmes /de.la.bʁam/	délabrâtes /de.la.bʁat/	délabrèrent /de.la.bʁɛʁ/
	future	délabrerai /de.la.bʁə.ʁe/	délabreras /de.la.bʁə.ʁa/	délabrera /de.la.bʁə.ʁa/	délabrerons /de.la.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/	délabrerez /de.la.bʁə.ʁe/	délabreront /de.la.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	délabrerais /de.la.bʁə.ʁɛ/	délabrerais /de.la.bʁə.ʁɛ/	délabrerait /de.la.bʁə.ʁɛ/	délabrerions /de.la.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	délabreriez /de.la.bʁə.ʁje/	délabreraient /de.la.bʁə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	délabre /de.labʁ/	délabres /de.labʁ/	délabre /de.labʁ/	délabrions /de.la.bʁi.jɔ̃/	délabriez /de.la.bʁi.je/	délabrent /de.labʁ/
	imperfect2	délabrasse /de.la.bʁas/	délabrasses /de.la.bʁas/	délabrât /de.la.bʁa/	délabrassions /de.la.bʁa.sjɔ̃/	délabrassiez /de.la.bʁa.sje/	délabrassent /de.la.bʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	délabre /de.labʁ/	—	délabrons /de.la.bʁɔ̃/	délabrez /de.la.bʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “délabrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.