obsolete
/ŏb″sə-lēt′, ŏb′sə-lēt″/
adjective
  1. No longer in use.
    an obsolete word.
  2. Outmoded in design, style, or construction.
    an obsolete locomotive.
  3. (Biology) Vestigial or rudimentary, especially in comparison with related or ancestral species, as the tailbone of an ape. Used of an organ or other part of an organism.
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition. More at Wordnik
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › dictionary › obsolete
OBSOLETE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
no longer in use or no longer useful; of a kind or style no longer current : old-fashioned; indistinct or imperfect as compared with a corresponding part in related organisms : rudimentary, vestigial… See the full definition
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Cambridge Dictionary
dictionary.cambridge.org › us › dictionary › english › obsolete
OBSOLETE | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
1 week ago - OBSOLETE meaning: 1. not in use any more, having been replaced by something newer and better or more fashionable: 2…. Learn more.
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Vocabulary.com
vocabulary.com › dictionary › obsolete
Obsolete - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com
Obsolete is from the Latin obsolescere "to fall into disuse," and it is a very handy adjective for anything that is no longer used, from words to factories to computer software to ways of thinking.
Discussions

Obsolete vs. low frequency words
Answering to this depends on what obsolete means to you. Merriam-Webster defines it as “no longer in use or no longer useful”, which are rather different criteria. A word might not be in general use anymore but it might be useful to talk about the past, e.g. in books or conferences about the history of a certain field. My favourite example is the Spanish word lansquenete, which is a straight borrowing from German Landsknecht and refers to a German infantry soldier during the reign of the House of Habsburg. This is a doubly obsolete word since the vast majority of Spanish speakers don't know it and it can't really be used anymore, nor is it really needed. Yet it's not marked as obsolete in the DLE (the dictionary of the Real Academia Española) because it still has a place in the parlance of historians, in historical novels, period pieces, etc. On the other hand, there was once in the DLE a word cocadriz, designated the female of the crocodile (cocodrilo); it was removed from the dictionary because it was truly obsolete: no-one used it anymore in any way, apparently, as far as the lexicographers could determine. Yet it seems that very few words get removed in this way; many are saved by being used in the classics (something like if Cervantes used a word twice, then it stays in the dictionary forever). I'm giving examples from Spanish because it has (and has had for a while) a more or less centralized language authority. With most other languages, determining whether a word is obsolete or just very infrequent depends on who gathers the textual corpora and studies the frequencies of words and which criteria they use. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/linguistics
26
109
February 28, 2023
Is "putting a fire *out*" from an obsolete meaning of "out"?
I'm not sure it's obsolete. We also say "turn the lights out," "the power is out," "cut it out," "school's out," and so on. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/etymology
6
5
February 8, 2022
It's "deprecated", not "depreciated"
That's not so bad. I once heard a guy say "deepcreated" like 5 times on the same day even after correcting him. Depreciated makes more sense at least More on reddit.com
🌐 r/learnprogramming
152
611
November 11, 2024
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Dictionary.com
dictionary.com › browse › obsolete
OBSOLETE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
OBSOLETE definition: no longer in general use; fallen into disuse. See examples of obsolete used in a sentence.
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Etymonline
etymonline.com › word › obsolete
Obsolete - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
"that is no longer practiced or used, out of date, gone out of use, of a discarded type,"… See origin and meaning of obsolete.
Find elsewhere
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
🔵 Obsolete Meaning - Obsolescence Examples - Obsolescent Definition - GRE Vocabulary - Obsolete - YouTube
Obsolete Meaning - Obsolescence Examples - Obsolescent Definition - GRE Vocabulary - ObsoleteWhat does obsolete mean? What does obsolete mean? What is obsole...
Published   October 13, 2022
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YouTube
youtube.com › shorts › IWmGQtXHqrk
Obsolete Meaning, Pronunciation and Example Sentence - YouTube
How to pronounce the word "obsolete," its meaning with synonyms and an example sentence.Our new Advanced English Vocabulary Workbook: https://www.englishperf...
Published   December 9, 2025
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Gymglish
gymglish.com › homepage › online english lessons › vocabulary - learn english with gymglish › obsolete
Obsolete - Definition & Meaning
"This is cutting-edge technology, and we must use it quickly before it becomes obsolete in the next five minutes!"
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Magoosh
gre.magoosh.com › definitions › obsolete
obsolete Definition - Magoosh GRE
Vinyl records are generally obsolete as a way to play music, but some collectors value them highly for their distinctive sound.
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Oxford English Dictionary
oed.com › dictionary › obsolete_v
obsolete, v. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence. This word is used in North American English. ... obsolete is of multiple origins. Either (i) formed within English, by conversion.
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Quora
quora.com › What-does-it-mean-if-something-is-obsolete
What does it mean if something is obsolete? - Quora
Answer (1 of 9): From the Oxford Languages Dictionary: > ob·so·lete /ˌäbsəˈlēt/ adjective 1. no longer produced or used; out of date. "the disposal of old and obsolete machinery" Similar: out of date, outdated, outmoded, old-fashioned, ...
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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › dictionary › obsolete
Obsolete Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
OBSOLETE meaning: 1 : no longer used because something newer exists replaced by something newer; 2 : no longer used by anyone
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Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org › wiki › obsolete
obsolete - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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.
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Longman
ldoceonline.com › dictionary › obsolete
obsolete | meaning of obsolete in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishobsoleteob‧so‧lete /ˈɒbsəliːt $ ˌɑːbsəˈliːt/ ●●○ adjective OLD-FASHIONEDno longer useful, because something newer and better has been invented → out-of-date obsolete weapons computer hardware that quickly became obsolete Will ...
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Thesaurus.com
thesaurus.com › browse › obsolete
OBSOLETE Synonyms & Antonyms - 71 words | Thesaurus.com
Find 71 different ways to say OBSOLETE, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linguistics › obsolete vs. low frequency words
r/linguistics on Reddit: Obsolete vs. low frequency words
February 28, 2023 -

I was reading something and came across the word sincretismo (syncretism in English) and was wondering what position do words with very low frequency of use occupy. This is surely not the best example, but the question is: do words that are rarely used, either because they belong to a specialized field or a more elevated form of the language, ever become obsolete? Or will they always be a part of the language as long as they serve their purpose?

To me, it seems that a word will exist as long as there is a context for it to be used. But does this mean that, hypothetically, in 400 years the same word could still exist even if its use was practically non-existent?

I guess what I am trying to figure out is when does a word become obsolete, and how this relates to specialized terminology that isn’t present in common language and is even scarcely used within a field. It might be a stupid question, but I would appreciate it if anyone could enlighten me on the subject.

Top answer
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Answering to this depends on what obsolete means to you. Merriam-Webster defines it as “no longer in use or no longer useful”, which are rather different criteria. A word might not be in general use anymore but it might be useful to talk about the past, e.g. in books or conferences about the history of a certain field. My favourite example is the Spanish word lansquenete, which is a straight borrowing from German Landsknecht and refers to a German infantry soldier during the reign of the House of Habsburg. This is a doubly obsolete word since the vast majority of Spanish speakers don't know it and it can't really be used anymore, nor is it really needed. Yet it's not marked as obsolete in the DLE (the dictionary of the Real Academia Española) because it still has a place in the parlance of historians, in historical novels, period pieces, etc. On the other hand, there was once in the DLE a word cocadriz, designated the female of the crocodile (cocodrilo); it was removed from the dictionary because it was truly obsolete: no-one used it anymore in any way, apparently, as far as the lexicographers could determine. Yet it seems that very few words get removed in this way; many are saved by being used in the classics (something like if Cervantes used a word twice, then it stays in the dictionary forever). I'm giving examples from Spanish because it has (and has had for a while) a more or less centralized language authority. With most other languages, determining whether a word is obsolete or just very infrequent depends on who gathers the textual corpora and studies the frequencies of words and which criteria they use.
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Quoted from usage notes for Merriam Webster: Three types of status labels are used in this dictionary—temporal, regional, and stylistic—to signal that a word or a sense of a word is not part of the standard vocabulary of English. The temporal label obsolete means that there is no evidence of use since 1755. The label obsolete is a comment on the word being defined. When a thing, as distinguished from the word used to designate it, is obsolete, appropriate orientation is usually given in the definition. The temporal label archaic means that a word or sense once in common use is found today only sporadically or in special contexts: Source: "Usage labels." Merriam Webster Dictionary, accessed 28 Feb 2023. https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/explanatory-notes/dict-usage Edit: you might also check out "How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?" and "If a word is not in the dictionary, does that mean it isn't a real word?" under their FAQ page. https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-words-and-dictionaries