dead letter

英 [ˌded ˈletə(r)]

美 [ˌded ˈletər]

n.  无人遵守的法律; 形同虚设的规定; 空文; 死信; 无法投递(或退回)的邮件

法律

牛津词典

noun

• 无人遵守的法律；形同虚设的规定；空文
  a law or an agreement that still exists but that is ignored
• 死信；无法投递（或退回）的邮件
  a letter that cannot be delivered to an address or to the person who sent it

柯林斯词典

• N-COUNT 形同虚设的法律（或协议）；空文
  If you say that a law or agreement is adead letter, you mean that it still exists but people ignore it.
  1. No one does anything about it and the law becomes a dead letter.
     没有人执行它，该法律变成了一纸空文。

英英释义

noun

• mail that can neither be delivered nor returned
  Synonym:dead mail
• the state of something that has outlived its relevance
  Synonym:non-issue

双语例句

• Greek was a dead letter to him.
  希腊文他可是一个字也不识。
• The will itself is made a dead letter.
  遗嘱本身成了一纸空文了。
• No one does anything about it and the law becomes a dead letter.
  没有人执行它，该法律变成了一纸空文。
• After the proposal was put forward it simply remained a dead letter.
  建议提出后，却如石沉大海。
• Without sound implementation, even a perfect law would be nothing more than a dead letter.
  制定再完美的法律，如果不能得到很好的实施，也无异于一纸空文。
• It also forbade exchange rate manipulation but the term was never coherently defined and the relevant provision became a dead letter.
  它也禁止汇率操纵，但这个术语从未得到过一致的定义，相关条款成为一纸空文。
• The dispute between two countries was unavoidable because of its own deficiencies of the treaty, and the treaty became a dead letter.
  由于禁酒条约自身的缺陷，两国难以避免地出现纠纷，禁酒条约也沦为一纸空文。
• A telephone call is dead as soon as it's over, but a letter can last forever.
  电话一打完就结束了，而信件可以永久保存。
• However, newly created queue managers are not configured to use a dead letter queue.
  但是，新建队列没有配置为使用死信队列。
• A dead person can't write a letter.
  一个逝去的人是不会写信的。