dead letter
a law, ordinance, etc., that has lost its force but has not been formally repealed or abolished.
a letter that cannot reach the addressee or be returned to the sender, usually because of incorrect address, and that is sent to and handled in a special division or department (dead-letter office ) of a general post office.
Origin of dead letter
1Other words from dead letter
- dead-letter, adjective
Words Nearby dead letter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dead letter in a sentence
As in the Balkans 20 years ago, the effort to preserve “recognized international borders” is already a dead letter.
There are many signs that God is a dead letter (if not actually dead), and one sign that he has a future.
A generation after the hametz law was legislated as a dead letter it was resurrected in 2007.
Sherman has always acknowledged the contact, so maybe the whole issue of precedence is a dead letter.
Senate liberals are rallying around the dead letter of the health-care reform bill.
This expectation of high dividends, I need hardly say, has not been realised, and the Act in this respect has been a dead letter.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph TatlowIn short, insurgency ceased to be a valid plea; if it existed in fact, officially it had become a dead letter.
The Philippine Islands | John ForemanIs it not a truth that even when we know what is required of us to be good, that self-knowledge is a dead letter to us?
My Ten Years' Imprisonment | Silvio PellicoThe Articles of Confederation, as to purposes of revenue and finance, were nearly a dead letter.
Select Speeches of Daniel Webster | Daniel WebsterA portion of the shore had been set apart for this "playing with fire," but within a year even this had become a dead letter.
Mushroom Town | Oliver Onions
British Dictionary definitions for dead letter
a letter that cannot be delivered or returned because it lacks adequate directions
a law or ordinance that is no longer enforced but has not been formally repealed
informal anything considered no longer worthy of consideration
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with dead letter
An unclaimed or undelivered letter that is eventually destroyed or returned to the sender. For example, She moved without leaving a forwarding address, so her mail ended up in the dead letter office. [c. 1700]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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