desuetude means the state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence. It carries an Arena rating of 1832, earned across 80 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, desuetude ranks #720 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,321 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,454 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,547 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
desuetude is pronounced /ˈdɛswɪtjuːd/.
Why “desuetude” is a great word
DESUETUDE — [Noun] The state of a law, custom, or practice falling into disuse through passive neglect. From Late Middle English, from Middle French désuétude, from Latin dēsuētūdo, from dēsuētus (past participle of dēsuēscere 'to become unaccustomed') + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns). Dēsuēscere is from de- ('reversing') + suēscere ('to become accustomed'), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé ('self') + *dʰeh₁- ('to do, place'). First recorded in English in the mid-15th century. Unlike obsolescence, which implies being superseded by a newer model, or abrogation, which is a formal, legislative repeal, desuetude is the quiet victory of abandonment over decree. It is the rusted padlock on a forgotten statute, the ceremonial garb mothballed in a cedar chest, the overgrown footpath that once connected two villages—a testament to the gentle, terminal erosion of attention.
Etymology
From Late Middle English desuetude, dissuetude (“discontinuance of a practice, disuse”), from Middle French désuétude (“obsolescence”) (modern French désuétude), from Latin dēsuētūdo (“discontinuance of a practice or a habit, disuse”), from dēsuētus + -tūdō (“suffix forming abstract nouns indicating conditions or states”). Dēsuētus is the perfect passive participle of dēsuēscō (“to make unaccustomed”), from de- (prefix having a reversing or undoing effect) + suēscō (“to become accustomed or used to; (Late Latin) to accustom, habituate, train”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”), in the sense “to set as one’s own”).
noun
- The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence.
- The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence.; An instance of this.e.g.“Owing, I will believe, to Fred's sudden flurry in the unprovided moment,—unprovided, by reason of prior desuetudes and discouragements to speech, on Papa's side.” — 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “News of the Day”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book X, page 619:
- Chiefly followed by from or of: a cessation of practising or using something.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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