desuetude
State of neglect
Desuetude is the state of disuse—when something has fallen out of practice or been abandoned through neglect rather than formal abolition.
The word appears most often in legal contexts, where a law may lapse into desuetude when it goes unenforced for so long that it's effectively dead: Blue laws against Sunday commerce have fallen into desuetude.
A formal, somewhat rare word.
Suspended biological activity
- inactivityLack of movement
- discontinuationFormal ending of something
- cessationA full stopping
- nonuseFailure to employ
mothballing · suspension · quiescence · retirement · abandonment · neglect · idleness · stagnation
Old and outdated
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- outdatedNo longer in use
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
superannuated · old-fashioned · bygone · dated · passe · defunct · moribund · fossilized
No longer recalled
- unrememberedNot kept in mind
- obscurityState of being unknown
- lapsedEnded through neglect
- effacedRemoved from visibility
vanished · lost · overlooked · neglected · disregarded · unrecalled · extinct · buried
Process of declining quality
- dilapidationState of ruin
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- declineDecrease or refuse
- atrophyWasting from disuse
degradation · crumbling · erosion · wear · dereliction · ruination · wasting · withering
dormancy
Suspended biological activity
- inactivityLack of movement
- discontinuationFormal ending of something
- cessationA full stopping
nonuse · mothballing · suspension · quiescence · retirement · abandonment · neglect · idleness · stagnation · fallow
antiquated
Old and outdated
anachronistic · superannuated · old-fashioned · bygone · dated · passe · defunct · moribund · fossilized · deprecated
forgotten
No longer recalled
- unrememberedNot kept in mind
- obscurityState of being unknown
- lapsedEnded through neglect
effaced · vanished · lost · overlooked · neglected · disregarded · unrecalled · extinct · buried · erasure
deterioration
Process of declining quality
- dilapidationState of ruin
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- declineDecrease or refuse
atrophy · degradation · crumbling · erosion · wear · dereliction · ruination · wasting · withering · molder
desuetudeuse
Put into service
practice · exercise · employment · operation · application