What does demode mean?
Demode is an adjective meaning out of fashion — no longer stylish, current, or socially accepted. Borrowed directly from the French past participle démodé ('out of fashion'), it keeps its French form and a three-syllable pronunciation ending in the sound of 'day'. English writers use it when they want a slightly elegant or ironic alternative to plainer words like old-fashioned or dated, typically to describe styles of dress, interior decoration, artistic conventions, or ideas whose moment has passed: a critic might call a theatrical convention demode, or a designer might declare a silhouette utterly demode. The word belongs chiefly to formal, journalistic, and literary registers and appears far more often in British writing than in everyday American speech. Because it is transparently French, using it signals cultural refinement — sometimes sincerely, sometimes with a wink. Its root, Latin modus ('measure, manner'), also gives English mode, modish, and modify, tying demode to the whole family of words about fashion and manner.
adjectiveOut of fashion; no longer stylish or current. The word is a direct borrowing of the French past participle démodé.
- Out of fashion; no longer stylish, popular, or current.
"Her once-celebrated design now seemed utterly demode beside the sleek new collections."
"By the 1990s, the grandiose decor of the 1980s had come to seem thoroughly demode."
"He dismissed the theory as intellectually demode, though he could not quite refute it."
Borrowed straight from French and never anglicized in spelling, 'demode' is what critics reach for when 'old-fashioned' just isn't chic enough to say it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of demode
Demode comes from the French past participle démodé, formed from dé- ('undo, remove') plus mode ('fashion'), which itself derives from Latin modus, meaning measure or manner. English borrowed the term in the nineteenth century as part of the broader adoption of French fashionable vocabulary, retaining the original accents-free spelling 'demode' along with the French sense. It thus shares its ultimate root with cognates such as mode, modish, modify, and commode.
How demode is actually used
Register: formal to literary; the word carries a faintly ironic, salon-like flavor because it retains its French spelling and pronunciation. It is used almost exclusively attributively or predicatively about styles, ideas, customs, or objects rather than people. Far less common than its synonyms 'outmoded' or 'passé'.
Easily confused with demode
'Demote' means to lower someone in rank or position, while 'demode' is an adjective describing something that has gone out of fashion.