dead letter

noun

: something that has lost its force or authority without being formally abolished

: a letter that is undeliverable and unreturnable by the post office

Examples of dead letter in a Sentence

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Today, to our peril, the Monroe Doctrine is becoming a dead letter. —

Steve Forbes, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024 Among other films to see is Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy’s SXSW title Dead Mail, in which an ominous help note finds its way to a 1980s post office, connecting a dead letter investigator to a kidnapped keyboard technician. —

Matt Grobar, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2024 Eurasianism and Slavophilism are mostly dead letters: the overwhelming majority of the world’s non-Russian Slavs joined or are clamoring to join the European Union and NATO. —

Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024 Those have been turned into a dead letter by the Republic. —

Gregory Makoff, Fortune, 9 Mar. 2024 See all Example Sentences for dead letter