decommission

de·com·mis·sion
D2E1C3O1M3M3I1S1S1I1O1N1
UK/diːkəˈmɪʃən/

verb

To take out of service or to render unusable.

“They decommissioned the ship after the accident.”

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 19

Meanings

verbdecommission (third-person singular simple present decommissions, present participle decommissioning, simple past and past participle decommissioned)

present singular third person decommissions · participle present decommissioning · participle past decommissioned · past decommissioned

  1. To take out of service or to render unusable.

    They decommissioned the ship after the accident.

    5 more examples

    The Army decommissioned the Sherman tank by filling the turret with cement.

    By July 1988, when NRC [the Nuclear Regulatory Commission] began requiring licensees to provide specific assurances that funds would be available to decommission their plants, 114 plants were already licensed to operate. At that time, NRC required licensees to provide "reasonable assurance" that sufficient funds would be available to decommission their nuclear power plants.

    1999 May 3, “Executive Summary”, in Nuclear Regulation: Better Oversight Needed to Ensure Accumulation of Funds to Decommission Nuclear Power Plants: Report to Congressional Requesters (GAO/RCED-99-75), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Accounting Office, →OCLC, page 3

    The failure of loyalist paramilitaries to decommission weapons was, therefore, less about ideology than about more practical considerations. There were several other reasons why loyalist paramilitaries were not prepared to decommission weapons. Since republicans had not stated that the war was over loyalists saw no reason to unilaterally decommission.

    2006, Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke, Fiona Stephen, editors, A Farewell to Arms?: Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, 2nd edition, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 142

    There are a large number of nuclear and radiological facilities, including legacy sites worldwide, that have been decommissioned successfully, are either currently in an active decommissioning phrase, or will require decommissioning in the near future[…].

    2012, E. Fourie, “Decommissioning of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities”, in Michele Laraia, editor, Nuclear Decommissioning: Planning, Execution and International Experience (Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy; 36), Sawston, Cambridgeshire: Woodhead Publishing, →ISBN, page 627

    Organizations may be forced by vendors to decommission systems because product releases are not supported any more, or the organizations may opt for expensive maintenance contracts for products, which are no longer officially supported by the vendor. […] [O]nce an organization is in a lock-in situation, the organization may be forced to decommission due to the product release strategy of the suppliers.

    2013, G. R. Gangadharan, Eleonora J. Kuiper, Marijn Janssen, Paul Oude Luttighuis, “IT Innovation Squeeze: Propositions and a Methodology for Deciding to Continue or Decommission Legacy Systems”, in Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Helle Zinner Henriksen, David Wastell, Rahul De', editors, Grand Successes and Failures in IT: Public and Private Sectors: IFIP WG 8.6 International Conference on Transfer and Diffusion of IT, TDIT 2013, Bangalore, India, June 27–29, 2013, Proceedings, Heidelberg: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 486
  2. transitiveTo remove or revoke the commission of.

    After his arrest, the officer was decommissioned from the police force.

    2 more examples

    New Other than Regular Army (OTRA) officers who fail their Officer Basic Course at a training installation for academic reasons, because of misconduct, or for demonstrated leadership deficiencies face the prospect of involuntary release from active duty. In many cases, these officers will be decommissioned, resulting in the termination of the officer's military status and the revocation of his or her commission. The process of decommissioning an officer is normally triggered by a Review of Student Status initiated by the school the new officer is attending.

    1987 August, Ronald K. Heuer, “Trial Defense Service Note: Officer Eliminations: A Defense Perspective”, in David R. Getz, editor, The Army Lawyer (Department of the Army Pamphlet; 27-50-176), Charlottesville, Va.: Judge Advocate General's School, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40

    The family claimed proudly that he [James Clay, Jr.] was the last Confederate officer decommissioned at the end of the war.

    2011, Lindsey Apple, “Civil War, Family Struggles”, in The Family Legacy of Henry Clay: In the Shadow of a Kentucky Patriarch, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 119
  3. transitiveTo remove or revoke the formal designation of.

    The state highway was decommissioned and reverted to local control.

    2 more examples

    R-23 (Submarine No. 100) was laid down 25 April 1917 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, Conn.; launched 5 November 1918; sponsored by Miss Ruth Jane Harris; and commissioned 23 October 1919, Lt. David R. Lee in command. […] R-23 was decommissioned 24 April 1925 and was berthed at League Island until struck from the Navy list 9 May 1930 and sold for scrap in July of the same year.

    1976, James L. Mooney, “Historical Sketches: Letter ‘R’”, in Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, volumes VI (Historical Sketches—Letters R through S), Washington, D.C.: Naval History Division, Department of the Navy, →OCLC, page 8

    Proposal is to decommission 0.75 miles of this route that exists on the ground; this portion of the road does not access important features, dispersed sites, or firewood; […]

    2005 November, Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bionomics Environmental, Inc., Moose-Gypsum Project: Draft Environmental Impact Statement, [Pinedale, Wyo.]: [Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest], →OCLC, page 2-16

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Latindē-
  6. Englishde-
  7. Englishcommission
  8. Englishdecommission

From de- + commission.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic يَلٰجَأَ
  • يَلٰجَأَ (yalājaʔa)take out of service or render unusable
Chinese Mandarin 停用, 退役
  • 停用 (tíngyòng)take out of service or render unusable
  • 退役 (tuìyì)take out of service or render unusable
  • 報廢 /报废 (bàofèi)take out of service or render unusable
  • 撤銷委託 /撤销委托 (chèxiāo wěituō)remove or revoke a commission
  • 廢除職務 /废除职务 (fèichú zhíwù)remove or revoke a commission
  • 撤銷正式名義 /撤销正式名义 (chèxiāo zhèngshì míngyì)remove or revoke a formal designation
  • 取消資格認可 /取消资格认可 (qǔxiāo zīgé rènkě)remove or revoke a formal designation
Czech vyřadit z provozu
  • vyřadit z provozutake out of service or render unusable
Danish tage ud af/fjerne fra tjeneste/arbejde/drift, nedlægge
  • tage ud af/fjerne fra tjeneste/arbejde/drifttake out of service or render unusable
  • nedlæggetake out of service or render unusable
Finnish purkaa, poistaa käytöstä
  • purkaatake out of service or render unusable
  • poistaa käytöstätake out of service or render unusable
  • poistaa palveluksestaremove or revoke a commission
  • lakata käyttämästä nimitystäremove or revoke a formal designation
French déclasser, décommissioner
  • déclassertake out of service or render unusable
  • décommissionerremove or revoke a commission
  • déclasserremove or revoke a formal designation
German stilllegen
  • stilllegentake out of service or render unusable
Hungarian leszerel
  • leszereltake out of service or render unusable
Italian smantellare
  • smantellaretake out of service or render unusable
Russian списа́ть, вы́вести из эксплуата́ции
  • списа́ть (spisátʹ)take out of service or render unusable
  • вы́вести из эксплуата́ции (vývesti iz ekspluatácii)take out of service or render unusable
Spanish desmantelar, dar de baja
  • desmantelartake out of service or render unusable
  • dar de bajatake out of service or render unusable
  • decomisionartake out of service or render unusable
  • descomisionartake out of service or render unusable
Turkish devreden çıkarmak
  • devreden çıkarmaktake out of service or render unusable

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with decommission

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

decommission. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decommission

MLA

“decommission.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decommission. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “decommission,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decommission.

Source: decommission on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.