defunct
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defunct
- /dɪˈfʌŋkt/ UK, US
- /ˌdiˈfʌŋkt/ US
Rhymes with -ʌŋkt
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin dēfunctus, past participle of dēfungor (“to finish, discharge”).
adjective more defunct · most defunct
- No longer in use or active, nor expected to be again. [T]he engineer must solve the mysteries of boiler accidents by studying defunct structures of many different types.
- No longer in business or service, nor expected to be again; out of business.
- Specifically, of a process: having terminated but not having been reaped (by its parent or an inheritor), and thus still occupying a process slot. See also zombie, zombie process.
- (of a language) No longer spoken. 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.
- Deceased, dead. The organs, though defunct and dead before, / Break up their drowsy grave and newly move
verb defuncts · defuncting · defuncted
- To make defunct.
noun
- The dead person (referred to). 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.
