Obsolete means no longer used or produced, out of date. It comes from a Latin word meaning to fall into disuse, and it is a word that describes itself.
Wait... Is It Just Old?
Not just old. Obsolete means no longer used or produced, usually because something better has replaced it. Old things can still be in use. An obsolete thing is one people have stopped using.
A very old house that people still live in? ❌ Old, but not obsolete.
A thing nobody uses now that was replaced? ✅ That's obsolete.
What Does Obsolete Mean?
Obsolete means no longer in use, or replaced by something newer.
Floppy disks are now obsolete, replaced by memory sticks and cloud storage.
🔊 Pronunciation
OB-suh-leet
The stress is on the first part: OB. The ending is leet.
🗣️ Natural Examples
The typewriter became obsolete when computers arrived.
"This game console is obsolete," said Sam, "but I still love it."
Many words such as thee are now obsolete in everyday English.
🛠️ How to Use It
Obsolete is a formal, neutral word. Use it for things, technology and words, rather than people.
- It's an adjective: an obsolete machine, obsolete rules.
- It's often followed by a reason: obsolete because, made obsolete by.
- The verb is obsolesce: the device will obsolesce.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- becoming obsolete
- made obsolete by (technology)
- completely obsolete
- obsolete technology
- an obsolete word
👨👩👧 Word Family
- obsolete (adjective): no longer used.
- obsolescence (noun): the process of becoming obsolete. planned obsolescence.
- obsolescent (adjective): becoming obsolete.
👯 Similar and Related Words
- outdated: no longer modern, the everyday match.
- archaic: very old, from an earlier time.
- obsolescent: going out of use, not yet obsolete.
- current: in use now, the opposite.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Obsolete is not the same as old.
❌ My grandmother's obsolete recipe book is in the cupboard. (It still works.)
✅ My grandmother's old recipe book is in the cupboard.
Obsolete or obsolescent?
Obsolescent means going out of use. Obsolete means already out of use.
💬 In a Conversation
Mia: Why is the video shop closed?
Dad: Streaming made it obsolete.
Mia: So shops are obsolete now?
Dad: Not all. But the old way is obsolete.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
This is the OddLingo part: obsolete describes things that fell out of use, and it is itself an old word.
What we can say:
- It comes from Latin obsoletus, "grown old, worn out", from obsolescere, "to fall into disuse".
- English took the adjective in the 1570s.
- The verb obsolesce is recorded much later, around the 1800s.
So the word sounds old because it came from a time when old things were called worn out.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Think of obsolete as the end of a road for a word: it still exists, but nobody travels down it any more.