desuetudes

Noun

desuetude (countable and uncountable, plural desuetudes)

1. (formal, uncountable) The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence.
   • And they being in a capacity to forget by reaſon of deſuetude, it will be a nevv pleaſure to them to recall to minde their almoſt obliterate ſpeculations.1659, Henry More, chapter IV, in The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as It is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason, London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for William...

   Synonyms:

   disuse, inusitation, obsoleteness, disusage, obsolescence, obsoletion, superannuation, unuse

   1. (countable, formal) An instance of this.
      • 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
2. (countable, formal, obsolete) Chiefly followed by from or of: a cessation of practising or using something.
   • [T]he beſt Chriſtians, and (vvitneſs David) the greateſt Proficients in Scripture-Knovvledge, have the keeneſt Stomacks to this Food of Souls; and the vigorouſeſt Piety, by a Deſuetude and Neglect of it, is ſubject to Faint and Pine avvay.1663, Robert Boyle, Some Considerations Touching the Style of the H[oly] Scriptures. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, page 139