Standard Lemma guide

disuse

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /dɪsˈjuːs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uːs
  • /dɪsˈjuːz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uːz
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S Y UW1 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of not being used; neglect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • The garden fell into disuse and became overgrown.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: desuetude, obsoleteness, unuse, disusage, disuse, inusitation, obsolescence, obsoletion, superannuation

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To cease the use of.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • 1792, Cruelty the natural and inseparable Consequence of Slavery, preached March 11, 1792, at Hemel-Hempstead, Herts. By John Liddon, in The Monthly Review, May to August, Volume VIII, p. 238, https://books.google.ca/books?id=TKvkAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The author does not fail to recommend the practice, adopted, it is said, by many thousands in the kingdom, of disusing the West India produce.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To disaccustom.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, transitive

Examples

  • He was disused to hard work.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the state of something that has been unused and neglected

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the house was in a terrible state of neglect

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: neglect

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: decline, declination

Narrower terms: omission

History

Etymology

From Old French desuser, equivalent to dis- + use.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: излизане от употреба (izlizane ot upotreba) — disuse
  • Dutch: onbruik — disuse
  • French: désuétude — disuse
  • German: Nichtgebrauch — disuse
  • German: Nichtnutzung — disuse
  • Italian: disuso — disuse
  • Portuguese: desuso — disuse
  • Spanish: desuso — disuse
  • Vietnamese: bỏ dụng — to cease the use of