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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Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desuetude
Noun
  • At that time, though, the system was already in decline after years of neglect in terms of maintenance and investment.
    Greg Wehner, Fox News, 31 Dec. 2024
  • Three Missouri residents are charged with child neglect Police have charged three Missouri residents with child neglect after discovering a small child under their care in severe physical distress.
    Ben Brachfeld, People.com, 26 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • And devotion, for the male anglerfish, means gripping on with his teeth to her underside until their bodies fuse together, his eyes fall into disuse, and their bloodstreams become one.
    Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Dec. 2024
  • The nation’s highest court has never ruled on Section 3, which fell into disuse after the 1870s, when most former Confederates were allowed back into government by congressional action.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Jan. 2024
Noun
  • Look no further than the abandonment of computer ranking systems of the BCS era in favor of the all-human selection committee of the College Football Playoff.
    Giovanni Malloy, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Theunissen also previously pleaded guilty to animal abandonment in 2018 after allegedly leaving his chocolate Lab alone in a cage in his apartment when he was evicted in 2017.
    Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 3 Jan. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Desuetude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desuetude. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

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