English Explanatory Dictionary

desuetude

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence.
  2. An instance of this.
  3. Chiefly followed by from or of: a cessation of practising or using something.

Pronunciation

/ˈdɛswɪtjuːd/ /dɪˈs(j)uːɪtjuːd/ /-tʃuːd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-desuetude1.wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-desuetude2.wav /ˈdɛswəˌt(j)ud/ /dəˈsuəˌtud/

Word forms

desuetude desuetudes

Etymology

From Late Middle English desuetude, dissuetude (“discontinuance of a practice, disuse”), from Middle French désuétude (“obsolescence”) (modern French désuétude), from Latin dēsuētūdo (“discontinuance of a practice or a habit, disuse”), from dēsuētus + -tūdō (“suffix forming abstract nouns indicating conditions or states”). Dēsuētus is the perfect passive participle of dēsuēscō (“to make unaccustomed”), from de- (prefix having a reversing or undoing effect) + suēscō (“to become accustomed or used to; (Late Latin) to accustom, habituate, train”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”), in the sense “to set as one’s own”).

Synonyms

disuse inusitation obsoleteness desuetude disusage obsolescence obsoletion superannuation unuse

Related words

desuete

Translations

Bulgarian: неупотреба Bulgarian: отживялост Catalan: desuetud Chinese Mandarin: 廢止 /废止 Dutch: onbruik Finnish: käytöstä poistuminen French: désuétude French: abandon French: oubli Galician: desuetude Ido: obsoleteso Italian: desuetudine Italian: disuso Japanese: 廃止 Polish: desuetudo Portuguese: dessuetude Portuguese: desuso Scottish Gaelic: mì-fheumalachd Serbo-Croatian: одвика Serbo-Croatian: odvika Sicilian: disutùdini Sicilian: disusu Spanish: desuetud Spanish: desuso
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary