obsolete
UK/ˈɒbsəliːt//ˈɑbsəlit/
obsolete adjective: no longer in use or no longer useful; now disused or neglected (often in favour of something newer, better, or more fashionable); outmoded.
Adjective
obsolete (comparative more obsolete, superlative most obsolete)
- No longer in use or no longer useful; now disused or neglected (often in favour of something newer, better, or more fashionable); outmoded.
- 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.
- Synonyms:
- antiquated, deprecated, disused
- Imperfectly developed; not very distinct.
- 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...1891, Charles Dixon, The Birds of Our Rambles: With a Companion for the Country, page 130
- Synonyms:
- abortive, obscure, rudimental
Verb
obsolete (third-person singular simple present obsoletes, present participle obsoleting, simple past and past participle obsoleted)
- To cause to become obsolete.
- This software component has been obsoleted.
- We are in the process of obsoleting this product.
- Synonyms:
- antiquate
Noun
obsolete (plural obsoletes)
- An obsolete thing or person.
obsolete meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
obsolete in Hindi
- no longer in use
- अप्रचलित apraclit
- in biology: imperfectly developed
- अर्धविकसित ardhaviksit
obsolete in Tamil
- no longer in use
- வழக்கற்றுப்போன vaḻakkaṟṟuppōṉa
obsolete in Urdu
- obsolete
- قدیم qadīm
obsolete in Bengali
- অপ্রচলিত, বাতিল
More languagesFewer languages
- obsolete in Malayalam
- പഴഞ്ചൻ paḻañcaṉ
- obsolete in Kannada
- ಗತಕಾಲದ, ಬಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿಲ್ಲದ, ಪ್ರಯೋಗವಳಿದ, ರೂಢಿತಪ್ಪಿದ
- obsolete in Arabic
- عفا عليها الزمن
- obsolete in Malay
- usang
- obsolete in Indonesian
- usang
- obsolete in Vietnamese
- lỗi thời, mai một
Examples of obsolete in a sentence
- 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.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us?2023 March 22, “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter”, in Future of Life Institute:
Synonyms of obsolete
- antiquated
- deprecated
- disused
- abortive
- obscure
- rudimental
- antiquate
- anachronistic
- antediluvian
- antique
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
2 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of obsolete
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more obsolete |
| superlative | most obsolete |
| alternative form (obsolete) | absolete |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | obsoletes |
| present participle | obsoleting |
| past participle | obsoleted |
| past | obsoleted |
| Noun | |
| plural | obsoletes |
Origin of obsolete
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.
Words formed from obsolete
Questions about obsolete
- What does obsolete mean?
- Obsolete means no longer in use or no longer useful; now disused or neglected (often in favour of something newer, better, or more fashionable); outmoded.
- What is obsolete in Hindi?
- Obsolete in Hindi is अप्रचलित (apraclit), अर्धविकसित (ardhaviksit). See Obsolete meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use obsolete in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is obsolete?
- Obsolete can be an adjective, a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce obsolete?
- Obsolete is pronounced /ˈɒbsəliːt/ (UK).
Words near obsolete in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: obsolete (page history and authors); قدیم (Urdu) (page history and authors); obsolete (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പഴഞ്ചൻ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); obsolete (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-obsolete.ogg.
Cite this entry: “obsolete.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/obsolete. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.