decommission

de- +‎ commission.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /diːkəˈmɪʃən/

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• Hyphenation: de‧com‧mis‧sion
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

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

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

   They decommissioned the ship after the accident.

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

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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 […].

   • 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:

     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, Wolfgang Messner, Making the Compelling Business Case: Decision-making Techniques for Successful Business Growth, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN:

     The first project reaps a positive cash flow of $25,000 in the first four years and then decommissions the investment with a positive cash flow of $470,000 in the fifth year. The second project offers twice as much positive cash flow in the first four years. The third project does not reap any annual cash flows, but decommissions the investment in the second year for $490,000.

   • 2019 December 4, Paul Stephen, “At the heart of the local community”, in Rail, page 58:

     Pitlochry signal box (which previously controlled the passing loop through the station) was also decommissioned at this time and now awaits a future use, [...].

2. To remove or revoke a commission.

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

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

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

3. To remove or revoke a formal designation.

   The state highway was decommissioned and reverted to local control.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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; […]

• commission (verb)

• commissioned