dead letter

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dead letter

A postal worker sorts a dead letter at the post office.

Definition
  1. Noun:
    • A law, practice, or institution that is no longer observed or effective: "dead letter" refers to something that has formally not been repealed but is completely ignored and no longer enforced in practice.
    • Mail that is undeliverable and cannot be returned to the sender: "dead letter" also refers to a piece of postal mail that cannot be delivered to its intended recipient and is also unreturnable, often ending up in a special office.
Usage Examples
  • Noun (Obsolete rule):
    • That old regulation about formal dress is a dead letter; nobody follows it anymore.
    • The treaty became a dead letter after the war.
  • Noun (Undeliverable mail):
    • The address was so illegible that the post office had to treat it as a dead letter.
    • The dead letter office handles mail that can neither be delivered nor returned.
Advanced Usage
  • "to be a dead letter": to be a rule or agreement that is completely ignored.
    • Without enforcement, the new policy will quickly become a dead letter.
  • "dead letter office": the postal department where undeliverable mail is processed.
    • The package was lost for months before finally being found in the dead letter office.
Variants and Related Words
  • Dead-letter law/rule (n): a specific law or rule that is a dead letter.
    • The city has many dead-letter laws from the last century.
  • Moribund (adj): (of an institution, practice, or custom) in a state of decline or inactivity, similar in meaning to the first sense of "dead letter".
    • The tradition is now moribund.
Synonyms
  • Obsolete: no longer produced or used; out of date.
  • Defunct: no longer existing or functioning.
  • Undeliverable mail: mail that cannot be delivered (for the postal sense).
Related Phrases
  • A dead issue: a topic or problem that is no longer relevant or debated.
    • That political debate is now a dead issue.
  • To fall into disuse: to stop being used, leading to a state of being a dead letter.
    • The custom fell into disuse and is now a dead letter.
Related Idioms
  • Dead in the water: completely unable to function or make progress, sharing a sense of ineffectiveness with "dead letter".
    • After the scandal, the proposed bill was dead in the water.
dead letter

A postal worker sorts a dead letter at the post office.

Noun
  1. mail that can neither be delivered nor returned
  2. the state of something that has outlived its relevance

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