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Derelict vs Obsolete - What's the difference?

derelict | obsolete |

As adjectives the difference between derelict and obsolete

is that derelict is abandoned, forsake; given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; (of a ship) abandoned at sea, dilapidated, neglected; (of a spacecraft) abandoned in outer space while obsolete is obsolete, deprecated (computing).

As a noun derelict

is property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.

derelict

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Abandoned, forsake; given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; (of a ship) abandoned at sea, dilapidated, neglected; (of a spacecraft) abandoned in outer space.
    • There was a derelict ship on the island.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , title=When and where did NASA's derelict satellite go down? citation
  • Negligent in performing a duty.
  • Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful.
  • * Burke
    • They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy.
  • * John Buchanan
    • A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties.

    Synonyms

    * (abandoned) abandoned

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1907 , title=(The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses) , author=Robert W. Service , chapter=(The Cremation of Sam McGee) , passage=Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May". / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; / Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."}}
  • (dated) An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast.
  • * 1911 Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” (Norton 2005, p.1364):
    • A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange chance, the last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet.
  • A homeless and/or jobless person; a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their personal affairs and hygiene.
  • * 1988 , Jonathan D. Spence, The Question of Hu :
    • As they hunt, the Archers and Duval find many derelicts and ne'er-do-wells in many parts of Paris.
  • * 2002 , in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of D. H. Lawrence'', ''The Boy in the Bush , edited by Paul Eggert, page 22:
    • If they're lazy derelicts and ne'er-do-wells she'll eat 'em up. But she's waiting for real men — British to the bone —
  • * 2004 , Katherine V. W. Stone, From Widgets to Digits: Employment Regulation , page 280:
    • We see the distinction at work when victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks are treated more generously than derelicts and drug addicts.

    See also

    * flotsam * jetsam * lagan * salvage

    obsolete

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • No longer in use; gone into disuse; disused or neglected (often by preference for something newer, which replaces the subject).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete .}}
  • (biology) Imperfectly developed; not very distinct.

    • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "obsolete" is often applied: word, phrase, equipment, computer, technology, weapon, machine, law, statute, currency, building, idea, skill, concept, custom, theory, tradition, institution.

    Synonyms

    * (no longer in use) ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, disused, neglected, old, old-fashioned, out of date * abortive, obscure, rudimental

    Derived terms

    * obsoleteness

    Verb

    (obsolet)
  • (US) Oxford Dictionary To cause to become obsolete.
    • This software component has been obsoleted .
    We are in the process of obsoleting this product.

    Usage notes

    * (term) is often used in computing and other technical fields to indicate an effort to remove or replace something. * Compare

    Related terms

    * obsolesce * obsolescence * obsolescent * obsoletion

    References

    External links

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