Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The state of not being used or of being no longer in use.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To cease to use; neglect or omit to employ; abandon or discard from exercise or practice.
- n. Cessation of use, practice, or exercise: as, disuse of wine; disuse of sea-bathing; disuse of words.
- n. Cessation of custom or observance; desuetude.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To cease to use; to discontinue the practice of.
- v. To disaccustom; -- with
to orfrom . - n. Cessation of use, practice, or exercise; inusitation; desuetude.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the state of something that has been unused and neglected
Etymologies
- dis- + use (Wiktionary)
Examples
“It is probable that _disuse has been the main agent in rendering organs rudimentary_," or in other words that Lamarck was quite right -- nor does one see why if disuse is after all the main agent in rendering an organ rudimentary, use should not have been the main agent in developing it -- but let that pass.”
“_disuse_ during a long series of generations, its thickness is rather an illustration of atavism still resisting the effects of long-continued disuse.”
Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin
“There is such a thing as rudimen - tary organs which served functions long since fallen in disuse and now unremembered.”
“The maps aren’t at all accurate though, including locales which have either been knocked down over the years (great chunks during WWII), are in disuse (lots of Underground stations), are hidden from the public, or never existed at all (Hobbs Lane).”
“And it’s not really nasty gross water what with the pipes in disuse for five years?”
“But listen, when it comes to aging, there is something known as disuse atrophy -- just simply not using your muscles.”
“GUPTA: There is something known as disuse atrophy, though.”
“Darwin set the notion of disuse to one side and focused more confidently on his main subject, natural selection.”
“With respect to the means of modification, he attributed something to the direct action of the physical conditions of life, something to the crossing of already existing forms, and much to use an disuse, that is, to the effects of habit.”
“With respect to the means of modification, he attributed something to the direct action of the physical conditions of life, something to the crossing of already existing forms, and much to use and disuse, that is, to the effects of habit.”
Lists
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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zc0000 disuse = dis + use Feb 26, 2010