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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Example 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
  • Common causes include legacy storage, a lack of metadata and cost‑driven neglect.
    Daniel Fallmann, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Now, as a photojournalist working with the Kansas City Defender and as the creator of the upcoming podcast Fountain City Files, Harrison focuses on stories involving missing Black women, systemic failures in law enforcement and community neglect.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 10 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The Dissolution Of Neural Manifolds Our minds work like muscles, growing stronger through resistance and weaker through disuse.
    Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The Jemez Historical Site near Jemez Hot Springs is an even older development, where visitors can see ruins of a pueblo that dates back to the 16th century, alongside the 17th century Spanish mission that later developed and fell into disuse on the same site.
    Zach Wichter, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • While Beijing hasn’t gone as far as Moscow, its quiet abandonment of the denuclearization goal marks a subtle yet consequential shift – one that could open the door to closer China-North Korea ties, or even bolster momentum for trilateral cooperation with Russia, Zhao said.
    Nectar Gan, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025
  • People can handle uncertainty, but not abandonment.
    Daisy Auger-Domínguez, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Desuetude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desuetude. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.

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