as in neglect
lack of use
despite the long years of desuetude, the old manual typewriter seemed to work just fine
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Recent Examples of desuetude
New England travel writer and physician Jonathan Brown visited Sans-Souci in the 1830s, long after the king’s suicide in 1820, when the palace had been completely pillaged and had fallen into utter desuetude.
—
Marlene Daut, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Oct. 2021
Some passengers, however, seem to have moved beyond our technological limitations to a conceptual world where human drivers have fallen into desuetude.
—Peter Jakubowicz, Wired, 4 Sep. 2021
This Customs guidance has gone entirely unenforced for decades, but it was reissued — perhaps to keep it from desuetude — by the Obama administration in its final years.
—Eugene Kontorovich, Washington Post, 17 July 2017
Glenn Close returns to the role of Norma Desmond in the 1993 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, based on Billy Wilder’s classic portrait of Hollywood desuetude.
—The New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2017
Marlene Daut, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Oct. 2021
Some passengers, however, seem to have moved beyond our technological limitations to a conceptual world where human drivers have fallen into desuetude.
—Peter Jakubowicz, Wired, 4 Sep. 2021
This Customs guidance has gone entirely unenforced for decades, but it was reissued — perhaps to keep it from desuetude — by the Obama administration in its final years.
—Eugene Kontorovich, Washington Post, 17 July 2017
Glenn Close returns to the role of Norma Desmond in the 1993 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, based on Billy Wilder’s classic portrait of Hollywood desuetude.
—The New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desuetude
Noun
-
Biden administration officials said the staffing rule was intended to limit cases of resident neglect or delays in care.—
Ken Alltucker,
USA Today,
8 Apr. 2025
-
People who’ve grown up with difficult family dynamics, emotional neglect or trauma may find comfort in someone who has walked a similar path.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The rescission power fell into disuse under Bill Clinton.—
The Editors,
National Review,
10 Mar. 2025
-
But decades of disuse did not entirely dissipate their power.—
Nick Frisch,
Foreign Affairs,
17 May 2016
Noun
-
Volunteers advocate for children who have been removed from their home from either abuse, abandonment or neglect.—
Joe Rassel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 Apr. 2025
-
Over the past week, the attorneys laid out their case that childhood abuse by his father and an uncle left Ramos battered and traumatized, while his mother’s departure for Singapore to find work resulted in powerful feelings of abandonment.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacramento Bee,
25 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desuetude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desuetude. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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