Deaccession
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The disposal of objects in this way, or the disposed object itself. countable, uncountable
"At the last board meeting, trustee Edmund Carpenter moved to clamp down on private trades. All deaccessions, he proposed, should go to other museums, or failing that, to public sale with full disclosure of records and documentation. The motion failed to get a second and there the matter died."
- 1 To officially remove an object from a ledger of a museum, art gallery or library so that it may be sold or disposed.
"Perhaps he forgets that museums, too, have basements full of stored art, and not every piece is equally adored. The temptation must be great to “deaccession” some of it, and museums often do succumb."
- 2 sell (art works) from a collection, especially in order to raise money for the purchase of other art works wordnet
Synonyms
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More examples"Perhaps he forgets that museums, too, have basements full of stored art, and not every piece is equally adored. The temptation must be great to “deaccession” some of it, and museums often do succumb."
Etymology
From de- + accession.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.