diff --git a/base/abstractarray.jl b/base/abstractarray.jl
index 4bcc763d66a19..56390de1eb5d3 100644
--- a/base/abstractarray.jl
+++ b/base/abstractarray.jl
@@ -1452,20 +1452,7 @@ function _setindex!(::IndexCartesian, A::AbstractArray, v, I::Vararg{Int,M}) whe
     r
 end
 
-function _unsetindex!(A::AbstractArray, i::Integer...)
-    @_propagate_inbounds_meta
-    _unsetindex!(A, map(to_index, i)...)
-end
-
-function _unsetindex!(A::AbstractArray{T}, i::Int...) where T
-    # this provides a fallback method which is a no-op if the element is already unassigned
-    # such that copying into an uninitialized object generally always will work,
-    # even if the specific custom array type has not implemented `_unsetindex!`
-    @inline
-    @boundscheck checkbounds(A, i...)
-    allocatedinline(T) || @inbounds(!isassigned(A, i...)) || throw(MethodError(_unsetindex!, (A, i...)))
-    return A
-end
+_unsetindex!(A::AbstractArray, i::Integer) = _unsetindex!(A, to_index(i))
 
 """
     parent(A)
diff --git a/base/array.jl b/base/array.jl
index 83ca35714c244..19d79479bef39 100644
--- a/base/array.jl
+++ b/base/array.jl
@@ -219,12 +219,7 @@ function _unsetindex!(A::Array, i::Int)
     @inbounds _unsetindex!(GenericMemoryRef(A.ref, i))
     return A
 end
-function _unsetindex!(A::Array, i::Int...)
-    @inline
-    @boundscheck checkbounds(A, i...)
-    @inbounds _unsetindex!(A, _to_linear_index(A, i...))
-    return A
-end
+
 
 # TODO: deprecate this (aligned_sizeof and/or elsize and/or sizeof(Some{T}) are more correct)
 elsize(::Type{A}) where {T,A<:Array{T}} = aligned_sizeof(T)
diff --git a/base/multidimensional.jl b/base/multidimensional.jl
index fe29e5c1d8e5f..146f8c160e8e9 100644
--- a/base/multidimensional.jl
+++ b/base/multidimensional.jl
@@ -1610,12 +1610,6 @@ end
     end
 end
 
-# _unsetindex
-@propagate_inbounds function Base._unsetindex!(A::AbstractArray, i::CartesianIndex)
-    Base._unsetindex!(A, to_indices(A, (i,))...)
-    return A
-end
-
 ## permutedims
 
 ## Permute array dims ##
diff --git a/base/subarray.jl b/base/subarray.jl
index 759b564aade17..b67b917a478b3 100644
--- a/base/subarray.jl
+++ b/base/subarray.jl
@@ -413,25 +413,6 @@ function isassigned(V::FastSubArray{<:Any, 1}, i::Int)
     r
 end
 
-function _unsetindex!(V::FastSubArray, i::Int)
-    @inline
-    @boundscheck checkbounds(V, i)
-    @inbounds _unsetindex!(V.parent, _reindexlinear(V, i))
-    return V
-end
-function _unsetindex!(V::FastSubArray{<:Any,1}, i::Int)
-    @inline
-    @boundscheck checkbounds(V, i)
-    @inbounds _unsetindex!(V.parent, _reindexlinear(V, i))
-    return V
-end
-function _unsetindex!(V::SubArray{T,N}, i::Vararg{Int,N}) where {T,N}
-    @inline
-    @boundscheck checkbounds(V, i...)
-    @inbounds _unsetindex!(V.parent, reindex(V.indices, i)...)
-    return V
-end
-
 IndexStyle(::Type{<:FastSubArray}) = IndexLinear()
 IndexStyle(::Type{<:SubArray}) = IndexCartesian()
 
diff --git a/test/abstractarray.jl b/test/abstractarray.jl
index a156953476c43..732ffba85ae84 100644
--- a/test/abstractarray.jl
+++ b/test/abstractarray.jl
@@ -2059,34 +2059,3 @@ end
         @test r2[i] == z[j]
     end
 end
-
-@testset "_unsetindex!" begin
-    struct MyMatrixUnsetIndexCartInds{T,A<:AbstractMatrix{T}} <: AbstractMatrix{T}
-        data :: A
-    end
-    Base.size(A::MyMatrixUnsetIndexCartInds) = size(A.data)
-    Base.getindex(M::MyMatrixUnsetIndexCartInds, i::Int, j::Int) = M.data[i,j]
-    Base.setindex!(M::MyMatrixUnsetIndexCartInds, v, i::Int, j::Int) = setindex!(M.data, v, i, j)
-    struct MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds{T,A<:AbstractMatrix{T}} <: AbstractMatrix{T}
-        data :: A
-    end
-    Base.size(A::MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds) = size(A.data)
-    Base.getindex(M::MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds, i::Int) = M.data[i]
-    Base.setindex!(M::MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds, v, i::Int) = setindex!(M.data, v, i)
-    Base.IndexStyle(::Type{<:MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds}) = IndexLinear()
-
-    function test_unsetindex(MT)
-        M = MT(ones(2,2))
-        M2 = MT(Matrix{BigFloat}(undef, 2,2))
-        copyto!(M, M2)
-        @test all(==(1), M)
-        M3 = MT(Matrix{BigFloat}(undef, 2,2))
-        for i in eachindex(M3)
-            @test !isassigned(M3, i)
-        end
-        M3 .= 1
-        @test_throws MethodError copyto!(M3, M2)
-    end
-    test_unsetindex(MyMatrixUnsetIndexCartInds)
-    test_unsetindex(MyMatrixUnsetIndexLinInds)
-end
diff --git a/test/subarray.jl b/test/subarray.jl
index 337e666da918c..9fd59ef5a4156 100644
--- a/test/subarray.jl
+++ b/test/subarray.jl
@@ -1074,48 +1074,4 @@ end
         @test !isassigned(v, 1, 2) # inbounds but not assigned
         @test !isassigned(v, 3, 3) # out-of-bounds
     end
-
-    @testset "_unsetindex!" begin
-        function test_unsetindex(A, B)
-            copyto!(A, B)
-            for i in eachindex(A)
-                @test !isassigned(A, i)
-            end
-            inds = eachindex(A)
-            @test_throws BoundsError Base._unsetindex!(A, last(inds) + oneunit(eltype(inds)))
-        end
-        @testset "dest IndexLinear, src IndexLinear" begin
-            for p in (fill(BigInt(2)), BigInt[1, 2], BigInt[1 2; 3 4])
-                A = view(copy(p), ntuple(_->:, ndims(p))...)
-                B = view(similar(A), ntuple(_->:, ndims(p))...)
-                test_unsetindex(A, B)
-                test_unsetindex(p, B)
-            end
-        end
-
-        @testset "dest IndexLinear, src IndexCartesian" begin
-            for p in (fill(BigInt(2)), BigInt[1, 2], BigInt[1 2; 3 4])
-                A = view(copy(p), ntuple(_->:, ndims(p))...)
-                B = view(similar(A), axes(A)...)
-                test_unsetindex(A, B)
-                test_unsetindex(p, B)
-            end
-        end
-
-        @testset "dest IndexCartesian, src IndexLinear" begin
-            for p in (fill(BigInt(2)), BigInt[1, 2], BigInt[1 2; 3 4])
-                A = view(p, axes(p)...)
-                B = similar(A)
-                test_unsetindex(A, B)
-            end
-        end
-
-        @testset "dest IndexCartesian, src IndexCartesian" begin
-            for p in (fill(BigInt(2)), BigInt[1, 2], BigInt[1 2; 3 4])
-                A = view(p, axes(p)...)
-                B = view(similar(A), axes(A)...)
-                test_unsetindex(A, B)
-            end
-        end
-    end
 end