outdated
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of outdated
Explanation
Anything that's so old-fashioned that it's unstylish or not useful is outdated. You might love the way an antique car looks, but its outdated safety standards (no seat belts or airbags) make it dangerous to drive on the highway. The 70s bell-bottom jeans your aunt still wears might be embarrassingly outdated, but at least they function as pants. Your outdated computer, on the other hand, isn't even capable of getting online or connecting to your printer — in other words, it's obsolete, or completely useless. This adjective dates from the early 1600s, from the "mark as old fashioned" meaning of the verb date.
Vocabulary lists containing outdated
"Notable Southerners: Althea Gibson"
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 5)
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Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
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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.
In a 1789 letter to a friend, he railed against the attempt to divide humanity into “white, black, yellow, copper-red,” asking “who thinks nowadays in such outdated concepts?”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026
Officials describe the update as a modernization effort intended to streamline outdated or redundant classifications and create a more efficient system for supporting service members’ religious needs.
From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026
Train wi-fi performed well just 1% of the time, with train companies criticised for using outdated technology and throttling internet speeds too much.
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
JD Vance sued, arguing the party limits were outdated and unwise in an era when super PACs are free to spend huge sums on campaigns.
From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2026
And then on the afternoon that Willow Chance came to see him, all of his categorization ground to a halt, like a fork thrown into the gears of outdated machinery.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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.
