Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The state of not being used or of being no longer in use.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cease to use; neglect or omit to employ; abandon or discard from exercise or practice.
- noun Cessation of use, practice, or exercise: as, disuse of wine; disuse of sea-bathing; disuse of words.
- noun Cessation of custom or observance; desuetude.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Cessation of use, practice, or exercise; inusitation; desuetude.
- transitive verb To cease to use; to discontinue the practice of.
- transitive verb To disaccustom; -- with
to orfrom .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The state of not being
used ;neglect . - verb transitive To cease the use of.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the state of something that has been unused and neglected
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"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.
Evolution, Old & New Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, as compared with that of Charles Darwin Samuel Butler 1868
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_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
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There is such a thing as rudimen - tary organs which served functions long since fallen in disuse and now unremembered.
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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).
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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).
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And it’s not really nasty gross water what with the pipes in disuse for five years?
Movie: Sorority House Massacre 2 « Michael in Nashville 2004
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And it’s not really nasty gross water what with the pipes in disuse for five years?
Movie: Sorority House Massacre 2 « Michael in Nashville 2004
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But listen, when it comes to aging, there is something known as disuse atrophy -- just simply not using your muscles.
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GUPTA: There is something known as disuse atrophy, though.
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Darwin set the notion of disuse to one side and focused more confidently on his main subject, natural selection.
The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004
zc0000 commented on the word disuse
disuse = dis + use
February 26, 2010