Dictionary

desuete en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈdɛswɪt/ (General-American)
• /ˈdɛsjuːiːt/ (General-American)

Etymology

Probably via Italian, from Latin dēsuētus (“unused”), past participle of dēsuēscō (“to disuse”), from dē- + suēscō (“to make use of”).

Meanings

1. Disused; out of use.
   • Since the day of Mr. Brummell and King George, the noble art of self-adornment had fallen partially desuete. 1894, Sir Max Beerbohm, The Works of Max Beerbohm, published 2019:
   • These opinions, founded on desuete customs are generally erroneous. 1905, Missouri. Department of Education, Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri, page 55:
   • Scarce seemeth it true that man can believe A human mind would such horrors conceive, As there were enwrought out of red men's bones, And bodies desuete, responsive to spells By which man keeps them, until he atones For the worship of self, which in all men dwells; 1911, George Studson Delano, Sasanoa and the Wool Witch: A Romance of Legendary History, page 38:
   • According to modern methods the intermediate entry is dispensed with, also the desuete Day-book, the first entry being made in books specially designed, and the final entry in the Ledger, the design of which is continued in its primitive simplicity. 1901, Prince Albert Wright, Wright's Bookkeeping Simplified, page 92:
   • Every act that has not been repealed or expired is given, it being apprehended that no statute can ever according to the English law, technically speaking, become desuete or obsolete. 1819, The Practical Abridgement of the Laws of Customs and Excise, page 10:

Forms