defunct

adjective

de·​funct di-ˈfəŋkt 

dē-

: no longer living, existing, or functioning

wrote for a magazine that is now defunct

a defunct railroad

Did you know?

If you know that de- often means "the opposite of", it's easy to guess the meaning of defunct. Shakespeare seems to have been the first writer to use this adjective, in Henry V. Defunct American political parties include the Greenback Party, the Readjuster Party, and the Nullifier Party. Defunct Academy Awards categories include Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director. Defunct U.S. auto models include the Dudly Bug, the LuLu, the Hupmobile, the Gas-au-lec, and the Nu-Klea Starlite. But to speak of a person as defunct would sound disrespectful—which is how it sounds in e. e. cummings's famous poem "Buffalo Bill's defunct".

Synonyms

• bygone
• bypast
• dead
• departed
• done
• expired
• extinct
• gone
• nonextant
• vanished

Choose the Right Synonym for defunct

dead, defunct, deceased, departed, late mean devoid of life.

dead applies literally to what is deprived of vital force but is used figuratively of anything that has lost any attribute (such as energy, activity, radiance) suggesting life.

a dead, listless performance

defunct stresses cessation of active existence or operation.

a defunct television series

deceased, departed, and late apply to persons who have died recently.

deceased is the preferred term in legal use.

the estate of the deceased

departed is used usually as a euphemism.

our departed sister

late is used especially with reference to a person in a specific relation or status.

the company's late president

Examples of defunct in a Sentence

She wrote for the now-defunct newspaper.

a stack of brochures and a few faded placards are all that remain of the defunct organization

Recent Examples on the Web

Congress held Peter Navarro, a former top trade adviser in the Trump administration, in contempt of Congress in 2022 for defying records and testimony to the now defunct House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. —Lauren Peller, ABC News, 12 June 2024

The main culprit is a defunct wastewater facility along the coast in Baja California, about 6 miles south of the border, that spews about 35 million gallons of raw sewage a day into the Pacific Ocean. —Tammy Murga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2024

The league has also considered other markets, including, reportedly, Atlanta — which has been home to an N.H.L. team twice — and Houston, which had a team in the defunct World Hockey Association. —Ken Belson, New York Times, 2 June 2024

This is the same location where in 2017, as a bespectacled, ringlet-haired 18-year-old rapping teenager, Harlow climbed onto the Ocean Stage as one of the first acts of the day during the legendary, and now defunct, Forecastle Festival. —Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 23 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin defunctus, from past participle of defungi to finish, die, from de- + fungi to perform — more at function

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

defunct

adjective

de·​funct di-ˈfəŋ(k)t 

: having finished the course of life or existence : dead, extinct

a defunct organization