Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective That cannot be used.
  • adjective Not fit for use.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not usable.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not capable of being used

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ usable

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Examples

  • It has been called to my attention that the word "I. .evidently unusable" is the equivalent of the N word.

    Traveler's Checks 2008

  • The world is awash in unusable, overly-complex and frustrating software.

    Bringing Women to Computer Science Peggy 2007

  • The world is awash in unusable, overly-complex and frustrating software.

    Archive 2007-05-01 Peggy 2007

  • Yeah yeah, language changes and all that, but in this case, the change has just rendered the word unusable by careful writers.

    The enormity! amuchmoreexotic 2005

  • While few pathways are now visible, the area is still studded with bomb craters, old gun positions, wrecked trucks and unexploded cluster bombs that were dropped to render the terrain unusable.

    Huet, Henri 1971

  • While few pathways are now visible, the area is still studded with bomb craters, old gun positions, wrecked trucks and unexploded cluster bombs that were dropped to render the terrain unusable.

    Shimamoto, Keizaburo 1971

  • While few pathways are now visible, the area is still studded with bomb craters, old gun positions, wrecked trucks and unexploded cluster bombs that were dropped to render the terrain unusable.

    Burrows, Larry 1971

  • While few pathways are now visible, the area is still studded with bomb craters, old gun positions, wrecked trucks and unexploded cluster bombs that were dropped to render the terrain unusable.

    Potter, Kent B. 1971

  • Venus, our planet's evil sister, has already been identified as unusable for life because of … yes, because of the greenhouse effect that occured in the past.

    Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com 2009

  • In Japan and South Korea, more users access social networks via mobile than by desktop, so Facebook has some substantial catching up to do given that Olivan admits its mobile site was "unusable" eight months ago.

    How Facebook will take over the world 2010

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