mothball
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“It literally goes into mothball mode,” said Len Kientz, Evonik’s director of energy management in North America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Manolo Blahnik did a shoehorn, Isaac Mizrahi designed a mothball that’s a cube, so it didn’t roll, and I ran it at 30 pages with the title “Hey, Target: How About This?”
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2023
Peter Done, CEO of Manchester-based HR specialists Peninsula, isn't ready to mothball his suit just yet.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2022
Also, the shipyard is home to a mothball fleet — many ships on the way to scrapping — which fluctuates in size.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2021
For example, many combat ships are being returned to active duty from the "mothball fleet" and many others can be put into service on very short notice.
From State of the Union Address by Harry S. Truman
Growing up, restaurateur Andy Kalish associated two smells with Friday nights: his grandmother's chicken soup and mothballs in his grandfather's closet.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2022
That system is long gone, relegated to the mothballs after the judging scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
The September 1974 journal, dog-eared and smelling of pipe smoke and mothballs, included the first published reference to Morgan commissioning the timepiece.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
He wasn’t interested in anything that reeked of mothballs and dust.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2021
It’s a winter cloak, not a cotton summer one, and it smells of mothballs.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Other flagship policies including the redevelopment of Casement Park and the A5 road project also remain mothballed due to financial and legal disputes.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The approved buyer of the mothballed residential, hotel and retail project is a partnership led by Kali P. Chaudhuri, whose KPC Development Co. owns and builds commercial properties in California and India.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Plans were approved, then mothballed, and then resurrected.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Other mothballed projects include a quarter-mile-tall, cube-shaped building big enough to hold 25 Empire State Buildings, the Journal previously reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
Whether it was staying with the boyfriend of the month, or in a foreclosed home, or luxuriating in a mothballed beach house, I’ve done fine.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
British chemical maker Ineos said last year it planned to shut two plants in Germany, after closing plants in the U.K. and Belgium and mothballing facilities in France and Spain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Goldman Sachs raised its second-quarter Brent crude forecast by $10 to $76 a barrel, as Iraq began mothballing some oil production.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
And it would vindicate the Dodgers’ strategy of all but mothballing an elite starting pitcher for almost three weeks and then handing him the ball and asking him to win them the division series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
As costs mounted due to the unexpected complications, inflation and the pandemic, the council considered halting work and mothballing the building.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2023
“In some cases, it may be necessary to re-examine the timeframe and the process of decommissioning or mothballing of coal-fired power stations temporarily to address our electricity supply shortfall,” Ramaphosa wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
