Defunct Meaning
/dɪˈfʌŋkt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNo longer in use or active, nor expected to be again.
adjNo longer in use or active, nor expected to be again., No longer in business or service, nor expected to be again; out of business.
Sentence Examples
If you look over there, you can see a defunct water tower.
The project is now defunct.
Tom lives down the road from a defunct granary.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old factory has been ____ for over a decade, with no plans to reopen.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
If you look over there, you can see a ____ water tower.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Latin dēfunctus, past participle of dēfungor (“to finish, discharge”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[T]he engineer must solve the mysteries of boiler accidents by studying defunct structures of many different types."
— 1880 January 1, The Locomotive, volume 1, number 1, Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection And Insurance Company, page 9:
"When a language dies members of the culture of which that language was once a part may attempt to hold on to their linguistic heritage, if not by the use of the defunct language itself, at least by the preservation of its script."
— 2007, J. N. Adams, “The Republic: inscriptions”, in The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600, Cambridge University Press, page 105:
"The organs, though defunct and dead before, / Break up their drowsy grave and newly move"
— 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
"Morgante at a venture shot an arrow, / Which pierced a pig precisely in the ear, / And passed unto the other side quite through; / So that the boar, defunct, lay tripped up near."
— 1820 February (date written; published 30 July 1823), Luigi Pulci, “The Morgante Maggiore of Pulci”, in Lord Byron, transl., The Complete Poetical Works of Lord Byron […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published November 1907, →OCLC, canto I, stanza LXIII, page 560, column 2:
"A small tablet is fixt near the Altar, upon wᶜʰ the friends of yᵉ defunct lay their offerings in mony according to their own ability and the quality of the person deceased."
— 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 23:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old factory has been ____ for over a decade, with no plans to reopen.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
If you look over there, you can see a ____ water tower.