obsolete

See also: obsolète

English

Alternative forms

• (adjective): absolete (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obsolētus (“worn out, gone out of use”), past participle of obsolēscere (“to wear out, fall into disuse, grow old, decay”); see obsolesce.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒbsəliːt/
• (US) enPR: äbsəˈlēt, IPA^(key): /ɑbsəˈliːt/, /ˈɑbsəliːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

obsolete (comparative more obsolete, superlative most obsolete)

1. (of words, equipment, etc.) No longer in use; gone into disuse; disused or neglected (often in favour of something newer).

   Synonyms: antiquated, deprecated, disused; see also Thesaurus:obsolete

   Speedy, worldwide, accessible delivery of news through the Web has made newspapers obsolete.

   Horses became obsolete means of transportation in cities in the first half of the twentieth century.

   • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

2. (biology) Imperfectly developed; not very distinct.

   Synonyms: abortive, obscure, rudimental

   • 1891, Charles Dixon, The Birds of Our Rambles: With a Companion for the Country, page 130:

     These two birds somewhat closely resemble each other, but the Sedge Warbler is russet-brown above, the feathers with dark centres, the pale buff eyestripe is very clearly defined, and the underparts are buffish white; the Reed Warbler is more olive on the upper parts, the feathers having no dark centres, the underparts are more inclined to buff, and the eyestripe is nearly obsolete.

Derived terms

• obsoletely
• obsoleteness
• semiobsolete

Collocations

with nouns

• obsolete word
• obsolete phrase
• obsolete equipment
• obsolete computer
• obsolete technology
• obsolete weapon
• obsolete machine
• obsolete law
• obsolete statute
• obsolete currency
• obsolete building
• obsolete idea
• obsolete skill
• obsolete concept
• obsolete custom
• obsolete theory
• obsolete tradition
• obsolete institution

with verbs

• be/became/become obsolete
• made/make something obsolete
• render(ed) obsolete

Translations

no longer in use

Arabic: عفا عليها الزمن Azerbaijani: köhnə (az), köhnəlmiş Breton: diamzeret (br) Bulgarian: излязъл от употреба (izljazǎl ot upotreba) Catalan: obsolet (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 淘汰 (zh) (táotài), 過時 / 过时 (zh) (guòshí), 廢棄 / 废弃 (zh) (fèiqì) Danish: gået af brug, forældet (da) Dutch: verouderd (nl), achterhaald (nl), in onbruik Esperanto: troantikva Finnish: vanhentunut (fi) French: obsolète (fr) German: veraltet (de), obsolet (de), antiquiert (de), alt (de) Greek: απαρχαιωμένος (el) (aparchaioménos), ξεπερασμένος (el) (xeperasménos), παρωχημένος (el) (parochiménos) Hindi: अप्रचलित (hi) (apraclit) Hungarian: elavult (hu), idejétmúlt (hu), ósdi (hu) Icelandic: úreltur Ido: obsoleta (io) Indonesian: usang (id) Irish: seanchaite Italian: obsoleto (it), in disuso Japanese: 廃れた (ja) (すたれた, sutareta) Korean: 폐어 (ko) (pyeeo) Latin: obsolētus Latvian: novecojis Maori: tūnguru Norwegian: Bokmål: foreldet (no) Polish: przestarzały (pl), zdezaktualizowany Portuguese: obsoleto (pt) Romanian: ieșit din uz, scos din uz, învechit (ro), desuet (ro) Russian: устаре́вший (ru) (ustarévšij) Serbo-Croatian: zastario (sh) Spanish: obsoleto (es), desusado (es) Swedish: föråldrad (sv), ur bruk Tamil: வழக்கற்றுப்போன (vaḻakkaṟṟuppōṉa) Turkish: eskimiş (tr) Vietnamese: lỗi thời (vi), mai một (vi) Welsh: anarferedig, darfodedig (cy) Zazaki: kehan (diq), verên (diq)

in biology: imperfectly developed

Bulgarian: атрофирал (bg) (atrofiral) Catalan: rudimentari (ca) Dutch: rudimentair (nl) German: atroph Greek: υποτυπώδης (el) (ypotypódis) Hindi: अर्धविकसित (ardhaviksit) Japanese: 退化した (ja) (たいかした, taika shita)

Verb

obsolete (third-person singular simple present obsoletes, present participle obsoleting, simple past and past participle obsoleted)

1. (transitive) To cause to become obsolete.

   This software component has been obsoleted.

   We are in the process of obsoleting this product.

   • 2023 March 22, “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter”, in Future of Life Institute‎:

     Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us?

Usage notes

• To obsolete is often used in computing and other technical fields to indicate an effort to remove or replace something.
• Compare deprecated (“no longer considered correct usage”).

Synonyms

• antiquate; see also Thesaurus:make older

Translations

to cause to become obsolete

German: abnutzen (de), runterwirtschaften (coll.) Japanese: 廃止する (haishi-suru) Maori: whakatūnguru Norwegian: Bokmål: forelde

Related terms

• obsolesce
• obsolescence
• obsolescent
• obsoletion

Further reading

• “obsolete”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “obsolete”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “obsolete”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

obsolete

1. inflection of obsolet:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

obsolete f pl

1. feminine plural of obsoleto

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔp.sɔˈɫeː.teː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ob.soˈlɛː.t̪e]

Adverb

obsolētē (comparative obsolētius, superlative obsolētissimē)

1. old
2. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔp.sɔˈɫeː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ob.soˈlɛː.t̪e]

Participle

obsolēte

1. vocative masculine singular of obsolētus

References

• “obsolete”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers