dissestare

to ruin financially; to destabilise

verb dees-seh-STAH-reh Rare

Also means

to damage (a road or structure)

Usage Note

Dissestare has two related uses: literally, to damage the surface of a road or building (strade dissestate = roads in poor repair), and figuratively in finance, dissestare le finanze means to put finances in disarray. The related noun dissesto (financial ruin, instability) is often more common than the verb. It takes avere as its auxiliary.

Examples

"La crisi ha dissestato le finanze del comune."

Natural Translation

The crisis has ruined the municipality's finances.

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