outdated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Origin of outdated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Anything that's so old-fashioned that it's unstylish or not useful is outdated. You might love the way an antique car looks, but its outdated safety standards (no seat belts or airbags) make it dangerous to drive on the highway. The 70s bell-bottom jeans your aunt still wears might be embarrassingly outdated, but at least they function as pants. Your outdated computer, on the other hand, isn't even capable of getting online or connecting to your printer — in other words, it's obsolete, or completely useless.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Vocabulary lists containing outdated
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"Notable Southerners: Althea Gibson"
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 5)
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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.
The AAP guidance also highlights research that challenges the outdated assumption that more time devoted to classroom instruction equals more learning.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
Sir Sadiq Khan claimed the strategic case relied on outdated evidence that "fails to reflect current climate laws and travel habits".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Social Security’s full retirement age dictates when beneficiaries get 100% of what they’re owed in benefits, but the current rule has become outdated now that many Americans are living longer, experts said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
The largely rural state has been a chemical industry centre since East German times, but many highly polluting and outdated factories were dismantled in the years after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 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that Willow Chance came to see him, all of his categorization ground to a halt, like a fork thrown into the gears of outdated machinery.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.
