dead letter
noun
1
: something that has lost its force or authority without being formally abolished
2
: a letter that is undeliverable and unreturnable by the post office
Examples of dead letter in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Many historians believed that provision — Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — became a dead letter after Congress adopted amnesty acts for ex-Confederates in 1872 and 1898.
—
David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
That includes judges who recently ruled on cases involving January 6 sympathizers and concluded that Section Three was now a dead letter.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 13 Aug. 2023
Sign up His deal is already a dead letter in the upper chamber.
—Grace Segers, The New Republic, 14 June 2023
That made the Comstock Act a dead letter until last June when a very different set of justices overturned Roe in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health.
—Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 12 May 2023
But in practice, this law has been close to a dead letter, at least for Supreme Court justices, because its somewhat vague prohibitions contain no enforcement mechanism.
—Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2023
The Iran nuclear deal was a dead letter, the Saudis were interested in diplomacy with Israel, and the Abraham Accords were a model for economic and security cooperation in the region.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 1 Apr. 2023
Already, in a separate dispute, the court is considering a Texas law that bars the procedure after six weeks and the justices have allowed that law to remain in place for three months, rendering Roe a dead letter in the country's second largest state.
—Ariane De Vogue, CNN, 1 Dec. 2021
By the 1940s, though, the institutionalists’ academic prestige was dwindling, and within a decade, institutional economics was a dead letter, displaced first by Keynesianism, which was more mathematical, and later by neoclassical economics, which was overwhelmingly mathematical.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 25 Oct. 2022
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David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
That includes judges who recently ruled on cases involving January 6 sympathizers and concluded that Section Three was now a dead letter.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 13 Aug. 2023
Sign up His deal is already a dead letter in the upper chamber.
—Grace Segers, The New Republic, 14 June 2023
That made the Comstock Act a dead letter until last June when a very different set of justices overturned Roe in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health.
—Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 12 May 2023
But in practice, this law has been close to a dead letter, at least for Supreme Court justices, because its somewhat vague prohibitions contain no enforcement mechanism.
—Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2023
The Iran nuclear deal was a dead letter, the Saudis were interested in diplomacy with Israel, and the Abraham Accords were a model for economic and security cooperation in the region.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 1 Apr. 2023
Already, in a separate dispute, the court is considering a Texas law that bars the procedure after six weeks and the justices have allowed that law to remain in place for three months, rendering Roe a dead letter in the country's second largest state.
—Ariane De Vogue, CNN, 1 Dec. 2021
By the 1940s, though, the institutionalists’ academic prestige was dwindling, and within a decade, institutional economics was a dead letter, displaced first by Keynesianism, which was more mathematical, and later by neoclassical economics, which was overwhelmingly mathematical.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 25 Oct. 2022
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dead letter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1627, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near dead letter
Cite this Entry
“Dead letter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dead%20letter. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
dead letter
noun1
: something that has lost its force or authority without being abolished
2
: a letter that cannot be delivered or returned by the post office
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