desuetude

• 指某事物不再被使用、实践或处于废弃状态。

A state of disuse or the condition of a custom, practice, law, or institution that is no longer observed or enforced.

不可数

1. The state in which a custom, law, or practice has fallen into neglect.C2formal

   A condition whereby a formerly observed rule, tradition, or enactment ceases to be followed or exercised over time, though it may still formally exist; often cited in legal and constitutional arguments about the validity of long‑unenforced statutes.

   习惯、法律或惯例因长期不用而废弛的状态

   • The ancient ritual had fallen into complete neglect long before the scholars arrived.
   • Some constitutional scholars argue that certain clauses have lapsed through prolonged non‑application.
   • The bylaw remains on the books but is now in a state of total dormancy.
   • Over centuries, the language lost its case endings through simple abandonment of use.
   • Roads that once carried heavy trade slipped into quiet oblivion.

   同义词abandonmentdiscontinuancedisusedormancyneglectobsolescence

   反义词customemploymentenforcementexerciseobservanceoperationpracticeusage

2. General inactivity or lack of use of an object or faculty.C2formal

   The condition of something (a tool, skill, machine) that lies idle for an extended period, sometimes leading to atrophy, decay, or obsolescence.

   废弃不用，长期闲置

   • The old mill had crumbled from decades of standing unused.
   • Muscles can atrophy from a prolonged period of lying idle.
   • The fountain was dry and silent, a victim of long‑term forgetting.
   • His linguistic talents dwindled through years of lying dormant.
   • The factory equipment was covered in rust from prolonged inactivity.

   同义词disusedormancyidlenessinactivityneglectobsolescence

   反义词employmentoperationpracticeuseutilization