dead letter
1
7.7
- noun
- /ˈdɛd ˈlɛtər/
:
ley obsoleta
- Obviously, this clause is a dead letter.
Examples
-
At least when it comes to managing interparty discovery, the Evidence Convention in U.S. federal courts is a dead letter.
Academic text (2017) -
The Bill of Rights will be rendered a dead letter.
Blog text (13) -
That July Senate bill is a dead letter.
Blog text (13) -
Either the economic reforms would remain a dead letter under party control, or the economic reforms would provoke demands for political change.
Blog text (4) -
Who would have thought that the FISA bill is just window dressing and that it does not alter the fact that the Fourth Amendment is largely a dead letter?
Blog text (13) -
Thus, by 1944, thirty-one states had repealed double liability, and it soon thereafter became "a dead letter everywhere" (Macey and Miller 1992).
Academic text (2017) -
Obviously, slamming the courthouse door in the face of most plaintiffs in church-state lawsuits would quickly make portions of the religion clauses of the First Amendment a dead letter.
Academic text (2007) -
Many experts believe that the old law prohibiting texting while driving is now a dead letter due to changes in public attitudes.
-
The proposal to increase funding for public schools has become a dead letter after the budget cuts.
-
Once the organization was dissolved, its previous regulations were considered a dead letter.
Synonyms
29
3.8
Something that people do not use or think about anymore
1
9.9
A state when something is no longer used
Something that is no longer important or worth talking about
Antonyms
How Enforced
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'dead' (no longer functioning) combined with 'letter' (a written text) gives a plausible inferential route to 'a written rule that no longer has effect', so part of the meaning is derivable from the parts. However, the crucial sense of 'letter' as 'the wording of a law or rule' is somewhat specialized and the phrase is a conventional legal/idiomatic usage, so a B1 learner who only knows 'letter' as a mailed message may not reliably infer the intended meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Dead letter was later used for laws and rules; one popular story says people likened a law to a letter with no life. If a rule was never used or followed, it was 'dead', so dead letter means 'a law or rule that is no longer used'.