disuse

American  

[dis-yoos, dis-yooz] / dɪsˈjus, dɪsˈjuz /

noun

1. discontinuance of use or practice.

   Traditional customs are falling into disuse.

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verb (used with object)

disused, disusing

1. to cease to use.

disuse British  

/ dɪsˈjuːs /

noun

1. the condition of being unused; neglect (often in the phrases in or into disuse )

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Etymology

Origin of disuse

1375–1425; late Middle English. See dis- ¹, use

Explanation

Use the noun disuse to describe a condition of not being used. After years of disuse, you won't be surprised when your dad's motorcycle doesn't start. The word disuse implies at least a bit of neglect, and it can also mean that something has become obsolete or old-fashioned: "Typewriters fell into disuse after personal computers became available." You'll often find the word used in the graceful phrase "fall into disuse." The word comes from a Latin root, dis, which means "lack of," added to the word use, and it's been around since about 1400.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disuse disused disusing

"Any rare changes we do make are usually as a result of changes made by either authoritative bodies or when a name falls into disuse and another name comes into use," it said.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

After a brief resurgence during the Civil War, when it was used as a military route, the road fell into disuse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

It fell into disuse after Congress granted an amnesty to most ex-rebels in 1872.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 4, 2024

This is why the Spanish, who arrived in the 1500s and set out to control the people by converting them to Catholicism, banned the cultivation and possession of the crop, which fell into disuse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024

She was christened Mary Katherine, a name which has fallen more and more into disuse, as—for reasons best known to themselves—the Corcorans have chosen to give her the nickname “Bunny.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

But many disused mills and factories have given way to apartment blocks, trendy cafes and co-working spaces.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

On an adjacent island facing Setouchi are small disused bases that launched shinyo suicide motorboat attacks on Allied forces in World War II.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The winning path follows the route of a disused Great Western Railway branch line which ran from Witham Junction to Yatton via Shepton Mallet, Wells and Cheddar.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

AFP on Saturday saw migrant minors milling around in a disused industrial park in Ceuta, while others dozed on the pavements outside.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

Once they’d snuck into a rave in a disused warehouse down in the Flats and danced until three, glow necklaces ringing their wrists and their throats.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

From an internal desire on the part of the creature disusing it, to be quit of an organ which it finds troublesome.

From Life and Habit by R. A. (Richard Alexander) Streatfeild

But no mere sentimental or capricious dislike to the pig, on the part of any number of persons, could now procure an enactment for disusing that animal.

From Moral Science; a Compendium of Ethics by Alexander Bain

Of the asylums entirely disusing restraint, in some of them, as we have stated, the patients have been found tranquil and comfortable, and in others they have been unusually excited and disturbed.

From Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles by Daniel Hack Tuke

The practice still continued in England of disusing tillage and throwing the land into enclosures, for the sake of pasture.

From The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part D. From Elizabeth to James I. by David Hume

What a hushing of voices and cleansing of wits and disusing of oaths was there after my little lady came to our rough Habitation!

From Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut