run-down

comparative more run-down · superlative most run-down

1. Tired and exhausted.

   Synonyms: out of gas, weary, bleareyed, bleary, bleary-eyed, bone-tired, bushed, tired out

2. Decrepit.

   The task was made trebly difficult, however, by the badly run-down condition in which the railways of Britain had been unavoidably left at the end of the war in 1945, […].

   1958 January 28, 'Borderer', “Ten Years of British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 12

   2 more examples

   In the Seventies the system was run-down and demoralised. Road transport was the future, the Underground was being 'managed for decline', and the system was filthier than the streets above.

   2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page xiii, Preface

   Among its findings, the report says: "In recent years we have seen more stations transformed from run-down Victorian hulks, or spartan bus-sheltered platforms, into places that people can take pride in, feel comfortable in using, and which are fulfilling more of their wider potential.

   2020 August 26, “Network News: Stations investment boosts regeneration, says report”, in Rail, page 17

   Synonyms: dilapidated, worse for wear, shabby, tacky, scroungy, mean, beat, beat up

3. Having the spring unwound.

plural run-downs

1. alternativeAlternative form of rundown.

   Shepard: Give me a run-down of the damage. Avina: We have lost all primary power to the level. Environmental controls are not responding. Class three fires are burning in sectors 2, 3, 6 and 7. Civilian casualties are high.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel