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Glite Dictionary
🟣 A pest repellent 📦 To store away
to mothball

to mothball

7 7.2
To stop using something and keep it in storage for later use
  • verb
  • /ˈmɔθˌbɔl/
translation icon : poner en reserva
  • Don't build ships just to mothball them in the York River.

Your big fossil fuel oil, gas, coal, nuclear power plants, they'll all be mothballed.

Examples

  • Now, as we mothball the space shuttles and turn back to our iPads, that window has closed.

    Blog text (15)

  • I would pay for it by mothballing at least two carrier strike groups.

    Blog text (20)

  • We took a mothballed facility and got it back into operation.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Next, Robert had the pool mothballed.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Exactly how many mothballed F-18s does our country really require?

    Blog text (11)

  • The head of Intel's chip division, Paul Otellini, tried to mothball the project.

    Academic text (2009)

  • First off, I am disappointed that the Allen Array is being mothballed.

    Blog text (5)

  • Hence, the South African military could probably get along with the weapons inventories and supplies it presently has by mothballing equipment.

    Academic text (1995)

  • We had to mothball a lot of unsafe lifts (DC-8s, 727s, 747s).

    Blog text (10)

  • After years of inactivity, the company decided to mothball the outdated equipment until a new plan could be developed.

Synonyms

to store
vsto mothball
463 1.0

To put something away to use later

is focused on stopping use long term rather than ordinary retention for later
to put away
vsto mothball
225 2.0

To place something in its usual place for storage

is about long term suspension, not simply returning items to their regular place
to store away
vsto mothball
3 2.6

To put something in a safe place to use later

is about suspending use long term rather than merely keeping items safe
to mothball a project
vsto mothball
7.0

To stop work on a project for a time and start it again later

is to suspend use long term while keeping option to restart later

Antonyms

to activate
715 3.6

To make a machine, system, or account start working

to utilize
  • Formal
224 4.9

To use something for a particular purpose

Phrasal Verbs

to mothball a project
7.0

To stop work on a project for a time and start it again later

How Active

to resume
297 3.1
to mothball
7 7.2
to shelve
11 5.0
to abandon
401 3.8

Surface Forms

mothball infinitive
mothballed past
mothballed past participle
mothballing present participle
mothballs third person singular

Etymology

Mothball as a verb comes from that noun: when people put clothes away with mothballs to protect them for a long time, they 'mothball' them. So, to mothball a factory, ship, or project is to put it away for a long time and stop using it for now.