desuetude
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of desuetude
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin dēsuētūdo, equivalent to dēsuē-, base of dēsuēscere “to become disaccustomed to, unlearn” ( dē- de- + suēscere “to become accustomed to”) + -tūdō -tude
Explanation
Use the noun desuetude to say that something is not active or not being used, like the desuetude of a neglected park, with its overgrown ballfields and broken playground equipment. There are two ways to correctly pronounce desuetude: "DES-wuh-tude" or "de-SUE-uh-tude." It comes from Latin: de- means "away, from" and suescere means "become accustomed." So if people or things are not used — out of custom — desuetude is the result, carrying with it a sense of neglect, disrepair, and inaction.
Vocabulary lists containing desuetude
Challenge, List 11
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List 10
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
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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.
Certainly we must now be set on a path to mental decay and desuetude.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2023
A very few people, not appearing to be up to much, sat far apart at desks in a dimly lighted panorama of desuetude.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 2, 2018
Meaning when you have a statute that hasn't been enforced in 215 years, there's a concept in the law called desuetude.
From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2017
“Lawrence, by contrast, dealt with a situation in which just 13 states continued to prohibit sodomy, and even then most of those laws had fallen into desuetude, rarely being enforced at all.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2014
There can be no doubt, that in course of time this assessment got into desuetude; that churchwardens, being the "distributors," they charged it on the church-rate by way of simplifying the machinery.
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
