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

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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

Fewer cities are volunteering to spend billions on infrastructure that sometimes falls into disuse.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2024

Last year Regal Cinemas’ parent company filed for bankruptcy and this year announced 40 locations would close because of disuse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023

In the semi-darkness Matthias could make out various old farming implements rusted with disuse.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

They also came after Israel bombed the disused Abu Duhur airbase in the country's northwest earlier in the week, claiming it wanted to avert Turkish troops deploying to the facility.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

Along the disused line from Woljeong-ri towards Baengmagoji station to the south -- the section to be restored under the peace project -- vegetation crowds both sides of the tracks, nearly swallowing a stone wall.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Would you live in a disused care home, pub or bank in exchange for a heavily discounted rent?

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

The long-vacant site has become a magnet for so-called urban explorers, who prowl abandoned malls, hospitals, power plants, amusement parks, factories and any other disused structure they can breach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

After a long walk and several Y-shaped tunnel splits, the pigeon led us to a disused section of track where the ties had warped and rotted and pools of stagnant water spanned the floor.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

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

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

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

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

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

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