Démodée

Démodée is the feminine singular form of the French adjective démodé, meaning out of fashion or dated. It is used to describe clothing, styles, ideas, or technologies that are no longer considered current. The masculine form is démodé, and the full set of forms includes démodés (masculine plural) and démodées (feminine plural). The feminine form agrees with a feminine noun, as in une robe démodée or des idées démodées.

Etymology and usage: démodé comes from the root mode, meaning fashion, with the prefix dé- indicating negation or reversal—thus “not in fashion.” The term has been part of the French vocabulary since the late 19th century and remains common in fashion criticism as well as everyday speech. In modern usage, démodée carries a neutral to mildly critical tone, signaling that something has fallen out of current trends rather than being inherently useless.

Examples and nuance: On a person, one might say, Cette robe est démodée. In a broader sense, Des vêtements démodés can describe wardrobe elements that no longer align with contemporary trends. Démodée can be contrasted with renewed or vintage styles, or with phrases like passé de mode to emphasize the shift away from current fashion. Related expressions include passé de mode, obsolète, vieille mode, and ringard in colloquial contexts.

See also: mode, démorder? not applicable. See also passé de mode, obsolète, vieillot.