Obsolete
['ɒbsəliːt] or [,ɑbsə'lit]
Definition
(a.) No longer in use; gone into disuse; disused; neglected; as, an obsolete word; an obsolete statute; -- applied chiefly to words, writings, or observances.
(a.) Not very distinct; obscure; rudimental; imperfectly developed; abortive.
(v. i.) To become obsolete; to go out of use.
Checker: Olivier
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Antiquated, disused, neglected, unfashionable, old-fashioned, out of date, fallen into desuetude.
Checked by Jerome
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Antiquated, past, effete, disused, archaic, old-fashioned
ANT:Fashionable, modern, current, customary, operative, extant
Inputed by Boris
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer but if it is a good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good it is good enough for the good writer. Indeed a writer's attitude toward 'obsolete ' words is as true a measure of his literary ability as anything except the character of his work. A dictionary of obsolete and obsolescent words would not only be singularly rich in strong and sweet parts of speech; it would add large possessions to the vocabulary of every competent writer who might not happen to be a competent reader.
Checked by Bernadette
Examples
- Yet they seemed to have become obsolete, to be superseded in the world. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The mines were run on an old system, an obsolete idea. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Such pictures were quickly made, and were much in vogue forty years ago, but are now obsolete. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- At present the crude open-pan system, where the brine was poured into open pans and fires were built below the pans, is almost obsolete. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- He is a curious, interesting, and nearly perished link between obsolete forms of life and those which generally prevail. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- There was, and is when I write, at the end of that low-lying street, a dilapidated little wooden building, probably an obsolete old ferry-house. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It puzzled you to guess why a garment of handsome materials should be arranged in such scanty folds, and devised after such an obsolete mode. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- They were old, obsolete. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Only three years after this prohibitory law was passed it became obsolete because of the improvements which had been made in the production of these articles. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- No wounds, that is obsolete. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
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