dead letter
Preserved but no longer current.
A law n6 longer acted upon. Also a letter which cannot be delivered by the postal authorities because the address is in- correct, or the person addressed cannot be found.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #46175 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “dead letter” mean?
A law n6 longer acted upon. Also a letter which cannot be delivered by the postal authorities because the address is in- correct, or the person addressed cannot be found.
Is “dead letter” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.