obsolete

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adjective ob·so·lete \ ˌäb-sə-ˈlēt , ˈäb-sə-ˌlēt \

Definition of obsolete

1 a :no longer in use or no longer useful

an obsolete word

b :of a kind or style no longer current :old-fashioned

an obsolete technology

farming methods that are now obsolete

2 of a plant or animal part :indistinct or imperfect as compared with a corresponding part in related organisms :vestigial

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obsoletely

adverb

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obsoleteness

noun

See obsolete defined for English-language learners

See obsolete defined for kids

Examples of obsolete in a Sentence

It may not be welcome news in her home state of Pennsylvania, but chemist Cynthia Kuper could help make steel obsolete. Experimenting with carbon nanotubes, structures a few atoms wide but 100 times stronger and much lighter than steel, Kuper calls her work an "amusement park discovery." —Joanna Chung, Newsweek, 23 Sept. 2002
He exercised a right so rare, at this the fag-end of the century, as to be practically obsolete. The most fundamental right of all. The right to be the good guy. —Zadie Smith, White Teeth, 2000
I never had parents, really. My mom was gone, my dad was at work or with his girlfriends, we had baby-sitters. My parents were obsolete. —Jonathan Kozol, Voices From the Future, 1993
The system was made obsolete by their invention.
I was told my old printer is obsolete and I can't get replacement parts.

Recent Examples of obsolete from the Web

The weapons had long since been obsolete, foiled by the deployment of new, southward-facing American early warning radars and Soviet ballistic missile submarines that could launch an attack from that direction much more quickly.

— kyle mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Secret Soviet Space Weapon Mistaken for a UFO," 23 Aug. 2017
And that, of course, is a skill made obsolete through Trump’s victory.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Steve Bannon’s Talent for Destruction," 18 Aug. 2017
But in recent years the availability of partial-eclipse filters for only a dollar or so has made such advice obsolete.

— jay m. pasachoff, Scientific American, "Total Solar Eclipse Offers Rare Chance to Understand the Sun's Atmosphere," 24 July 2017
Education software is not making teaching obsolete.

— The Economist, "EdtechTechnology is transforming what happens when a child goes to school," 22 July 2017
That matters, a lot, because the service will be obsolete before it’s even installed, said Jay McCloskey with the Universal Broadband Access Coalition in Crawford County.

— rick barrett, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "The digital divide between urban and rural areas remains, and some question government grants aimed at addressing it," 11 July 2017
But by 2008, the aging convention center was at risk of becoming obsolete for an international auto show that was struggling to compete with the likes of those hosted by New York City, Los Angeles, Paris and Frankfurt.

— brent snavely and john gallagher, Detroit Free Press, "Cobo Center lands Detroit auto show through 2025," 11 July 2017
The FBI has complained that the blocky, concrete behemoth — named for the agency’s first and longest-serving director — is obsolete, inefficient and no longer meets the needs of an organization that has grown dramatically in the last 40 years.

— sadie gurman, The Seattle Times, "Government scraps search for new FBI headquarters," 11 July 2017
How is a suburbanite expected to die in a god-awful place like Fallujah, when he is told that computers and lasers make the dirty war of the past obsolete?

— victor davis hanson, National Review, "Trump’s Anti-Cairo Speech," 11 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'obsolete.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of obsolete

Latin obsoletus, from past participle of obsolescere to grow old, become disused, perhaps from ob- toward + solēre to be accustomed

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First Known Use: 1579

See Words from the same year

obsolete Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of obsolete

old, ancient, venerable, antique, antiquated, archaic, obsolete mean having come into existence or use in the more or less distant past. old may apply to either actual or merely relative length of existence.

- old houses
- an old sweater of mine

ancient applies to occurrence, existence, or use in or survival from the distant past.

- ancient accounts of dragons

venerable stresses the impressiveness and dignity of great age.

- the family's venerable patriarch

antique applies to what has come down from a former or ancient time.

- collected antique Chippendale furniture

antiquated implies being discredited or outmoded or otherwise inappropriate to the present time.

- antiquated teaching methods

archaic implies having the character or characteristics of a much earlier time.

- the play used archaic language to convey a sense of period

obsolete may apply to something regarded as no longer acceptable or useful even though it is still in existence.

- a computer that makes earlier models obsolete

obsolete

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verb ob·so·lete \ ˌäb-sə-ˈlēt , ˈäb-sə-ˌlēt \

Definition of obsolete

obsoleted; obsoleting

transitive verb

:to make (something) old-fashioned or no longer useful :make obsolete

Examples of obsolete in a Sentence

While many … do describe various small, quick-loading 35mm film cartridges, modern technology has obsoleted these. —Herbert Keppler, Popular Photography, November 1993
… older cpu's whose speed and efficiency never were fully tapped before they were effectively obsoleted by their manufacturers … —Edith Myers, Datamation, November 1977
For radio itself deliberately obsoletes today what it built yesterday. —David Sarnoff, Television, 1936