tattered
adj.describing something that is very worn out, torn, or damaged. You use this to talk about clothes, books, or old buildings that look messy and broken.
adj.severely worn, torn, or frayed. Often used to describe physical objects that have lost their original appearance due to age or heavy use.
“The old book has tattered pages.”
“The hikers returned with tattered clothes and muddy boots after their long journey through the forest.”
“The once-grand cathedral stood in a state of tattered decay, its once-vibrant frescoes now faded to ghostly outlines on the crumbling stone walls.”
From Middle English tatered, tatird, from Old Norse tǫturr. Originally, it was derived from the noun, but it was later reanalysed as a past participle (tatter + -ed), whereafter the verb came into being. Compare tatter.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.