obsolete
Americanadjective
-
no longer in general use; fallen into disuse.
an obsolete expression.
-
of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date.
an obsolete battleship.
- Synonyms:
- old, ancient, antiquated
-
(of a linguistic form) no longer in use, especially, out of use for at least the past century.
-
effaced by wearing down or away.
-
Biology. imperfectly developed or rudimentary in comparison with the corresponding character in other individuals, as of a different sex or of a related species.
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
out of use or practice; not current
-
out of date; unfashionable or outmoded
-
biology (of parts, organs, etc) vestigial; rudimentary
Usage
Terms and definitions labeled Obsolete in this dictionary have not been in widespread use since the mid 1700s. Unlike some relatively familiar archaic words and phrases, like prithee and thou art, obsolete words and phrases are not easily understood by a modern reader, and obsolete senses of current terms, as found in definitions 13, 14, and 15 of nice, are even more difficult for a contemporary reader to recognize.
The word obsoleteness is hardly ever used, obsolescence standing as the noun form for both obsolete and obsolescent
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obsolete
First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin obsolētus, past participle of obsolēscere “to fall into disuse,” perhaps equivalent to ob- ob- + sol(ēre) “to be accustomed to” + -ēscere -esce
Explanation
Use the adjective obsolete for something that is out of date. As the Rolling Stones song "Out of Time" goes, "You're obsolete, my baby, my poor old-fashioned baby." Obsolete is from the Latin obsolescere "to fall into disuse," and it is a very handy adjective for anything that is no longer used, from words to factories to computer software to ways of thinking. Something that is obsolete has usually been displaced by a newer, shinier innovation. Compact discs made records and cassettes obsolete, and then downloadable digital music files made compact discs obsolete.
Vocabulary lists containing obsolete
The Giver
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Obsolete equipment discarded by the International Space Station in 2020 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere causing the space junk to be seen burning over Northern California.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2023
In the article — first reported earlier that week by Salon and titled "Women in Combat: Is the Current Policy Obsolete?"
From Salon • Jul. 13, 2020
Other books are named seemingly because the power of what they say about those who carry them around overcomes Wiener’s conceit: Are Prisons Obsolete?,
From Slate • Jan. 7, 2020
Obsolete now is the modernist rhetoric of revolution that hailed Pablo Picasso’s shattering of pictorial form, Jackson Pollock’s expansive drip technique, and Andy Warhol’s artisanal proliferation of demotic imagery.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 28, 2019
Obsolete and alternate spellings of words were not changed.
From Equatorial America Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South America by Ballou, Maturin Murray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
