outdated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Origin of outdated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Anything that's so old-fashioned that it's unstylish or not useful is outdated. You might love the way an antique car looks, but its outdated safety standards (no seat belts or airbags) make it dangerous to drive on the highway. The 70s bell-bottom jeans your aunt still wears might be embarrassingly outdated, but at least they function as pants. Your outdated computer, on the other hand, isn't even capable of getting online or connecting to your printer — in other words, it's obsolete, or completely useless.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Vocabulary lists containing outdated
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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.
At the time, he said he would use his technology background to reduce payment errors and improve the agency’s outdated technological infrastructure.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
Other outdated myths about creatine: “People used to believe creatine caused dehydration and cramps, but it doesn’t seem to,” Zaslow says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
The train system is "old and creaky and it's outdated," he admitted.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
"In view of the current disaster, the law is outdated," says constitutional law expert, Bipin Adhikari.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 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that Willow Chance came to see him, all of his categorization ground to a halt, like a fork thrown into the gears of outdated machinery.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
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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.
