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Glite Dictionary
to go by the wayside

to go by the wayside

5 6.9
To stop being used or followed
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : quedar en desuso
  • Everything else, from higher education to funding for fighting wildfires, goes by the wayside.
  • let things go by the wayside
  • things go by the wayside

They were no longer the number one retailer that went to Walmart and then later Target and then Kmart also sort of went by the wayside.

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Examples

  • The notion of the working class as the subject of history went by the wayside.

    Academic text (2001)

  • And like it or not, a lot of the smaller stores went by the wayside.

    The Last Blockbuster (2020)

  • So much of this has gone by the wayside now.

    Blog text (14)

  • But those TV development projects could go by the wayside just as her old ones did when her career grew cold.

    Blog text (26)

  • Sadly, I think this system has gone by the wayside due to volume.

    Blog text (20)

  • Why do my own good ideas often go by the wayside and other people's bad ideas get adopted?

    Academic text (2012)

  • Has politeness and civility in some of our society gone by the wayside?

    Blog text (21)

  • I can envision food, drug, and other regulations going by the wayside in libertarian-leaning states.

    Blog text (25)

  • The greatest impact here was perhaps in the liturgy and in a wide variety of disciplinary and pious practices that went by the wayside.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Many important traditions go by the wayside as society evolves.

Synonyms

to abandon
vsto go by the wayside
401 3.8

Stop supporting an idea or plan

is about being ignored or neglected rather than an active decision
to go out the window
vsto go by the wayside
  • Informal
21 7.5

An idea or hope that is suddenly ignored and can no longer happen

is ignored or neglected rather than being lost suddenly
to fall by the wayside
vsto go by the wayside
  • Informal
11 6.5

Stop taking part or trying because of problems

is ignored or neglected rather than failing from difficulty or lack of support
to disuse
vsto go by the wayside
2 4.2

To stop using something

occurs because something is ignored rather than just being unused
to drop off the radar
vsto go by the wayside
  • Informal
1 7.5

To stop being seen or heard from by others

is more about being ignored or neglected rather than simply unseen
to drop by the wayside
vsto go by the wayside
  • Informal
1 7.5

Stop taking part because it becomes too difficult

is about being ignored or neglected rather than quitting from difficulty
to obsolesce
vsto go by the wayside
8.9

To become old-fashioned and no longer used

is ignored or neglected rather than slowly becoming outdated

Antonyms

to follow
∞ 1.0

To act according to rules, advice, or beliefs

to embrace
390 3.9

To accept and start to use an idea or way of life

How Used

to continue
586 1.0
to go by the wayside
  • Informal
5 6.9
to die out
47 3.7

Surface Forms

go by the wayside infinitive
going by the wayside present participle
goes by the wayside third person singular
went by the wayside past
gone by the wayside past participle

Morphology

go + by + the + wayside

The literal image of something that 'goes' to the 'wayside' (the side of a road) transparently evokes being left behind or set aside, so there is a clear compositional/metaphorical link. However, 'wayside' is a relatively low-frequency lexical item and the specific sense 'become neglected or no longer used' requires metaphorical inference beyond the word meanings, so a B1 learner who knows the parts may still not reliably predict the idiomatic sense without prior exposure.

Etymology

Go by the wayside may come from old roads where unwanted things or broken carts were left at the wayside, the side of the road, and soon forgotten. So when something 'goes by the wayside' today, it is 'ignored' or 'no longer used'.