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obsolete

/ˌɑːbsəˈliːt//ˈɒbsəliːt/·adjective
no longer in use or useful; superseded by something newer
Fig. 1 — The old wheel is still turning, still doing exactly what it always did well — that was never the question — while overhead the sleek new things streak past and not one of them slows for it.
01Definition

Obsolete things did not break; the world simply walked past them. The fax machine still faxes, the floppy disk still stores — there is just no one left who needs them to. The word marks the saddest kind of retirement: displacement without failure. Technology becomes obsolete, words become obsolete, skills become obsolete — and the speed at which it happens is itself a favorite subject of exam essays.

02In use
  • iSmartphones made dozens of devices obsolete almost overnight, though a few still linger in office corners.
  • iiThe dictionary labels the word as obsolete, though it survives in old legal texts.
  • iiiWorkers worry that automation will render their skills obsolete before they can adapt.
03Collocations
  • render something obsolete
  • become obsolete
  • obsolete technology
  • planned obsolescence

Family obsolescence (noun) · obsolescent (adjective)

04Relations

=outdated, outmoded, superseded, antiquated, defunct, quaint

≠current, cutting-edge, up-to-date

05Compared
PairThe difference
obsolete vs redundantsuperseded by something newer, overtaken by its era → obsolete; not needed because it is spare or duplicated → redundant.
06TOEFL & IELTS

High frequency in TOEFL and IELTS reading on technology and language change. The killer collocation is 'render something obsolete' — exam writers love it, and so should your essays ('new technologies risk rendering traditional skills obsolete'). Compare 'obsolescent' (becoming obsolete) and the marketing term 'planned obsolescence'.

07Asked
Do obsolete and deprecated mean the same thing?
No — deprecated is a stage; obsolete is the destination. In technical writing, a deprecated feature still works but is officially discouraged and marked for removal; an obsolete one is no longer supported at all. A standard moves from current to deprecated to obsolete, and the middle step is the warning that lets everyone leave in time.
Where is the stress in obsolete — OB-solete or ob-so-LETE?
It depends which side of the Atlantic you are on, and even dictionaries disagree. American English generally stresses the end: ob-suh-LEET /ˌɑːbsəˈliːt/. British English prefers the front: OB-suh-leet /ˈɒbsəliːt/ — though some UK dictionaries record both. Pick your variety's pattern and hold it; examiners accept either.
What is the difference between obsolete and obsolescent?
Obsolescent means becoming obsolete — the -escent ending marks a process underway, exactly as in adolescent. A technology is obsolescent while the world is still drifting away from it, and obsolete once the drift is complete. The scene above shows the whole arc: the traffic overhead stops slowing, the turns shorten, and only when the dust settles has obsolescent finished becoming obsolete.
Who coined the term planned obsolescence?
The phrase is traced to Bernard London, a New York real-estate broker whose 1932 pamphlet proposed ending the Depression by giving products legal expiry dates — though the words may already have been circulating. The industrial designer Brooks Stevens popularized it in 1954, redefining it as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary".
Is obsolete the same as outdated?
Outdated is milder: behind current fashion or practice, but often still doing its job — an outdated map can still get you most of the way home. Obsolete means the world has genuinely moved off the thing, however well it still works — a verdict about demand, not about condition.