ancient
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/
ipa: /ˈeɪn.t͡ʃənt/
ipa: /ˈeɪŋk.ʃənt/
rhymes: -eɪnʃənt
ipa: /ˈæn.ʃənt/
ipa: /ˈæn.t͡ʃənt/
Forms: form: ancienter
form: more ancient
form: ancientest
form: most ancient
form: anchient
form: aunchient
form: auncient
form: auntient
form: awncient
form: awntient
form: ancyent
form: antient
Etymology: From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed of Latin ante (“before”) + -ānus (adjective-forming suffix). The non-etymological /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.
Senses: examples: text: an ancient city
text: an ancient forest
text: [P]ut the Caſe that the Nobleman of the ancienter Family does not indeed diſgrace his Dignity, but adds nothing to it; having nothing extraordinary to recommend him or diſrecommend him: Whereas the other, by his perſonal Merit, has rais'd himſelf to an equal Dignity. Which of the two in this Suppoſition deſerves the greater Eſteem?
ref: 1749, Joakim Philander [pseudonym; Friedrich Christian Schoenau], “The Adventure of the Inn”, in Vitulus Aureus: The Golden Calf. Or, A Supplement to Apuleius’s Golden Ass. […], London: Printed for T. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 119:
text: 'I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,' the Chief was saying. 'An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. They tell me there was a recognized swag-market down here.'
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 2:
glosses: Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
examples: text: an ancient author
text: an ancient empire
text: Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.
ref: 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion, →OL:
text: Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July–August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
text: The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds.
ref: 2022 January 22, Jonathan Reiner, “If you think that glass of wine is good for you, it’s time to reconsider”, in CNN:
glosses: Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.
topics: history
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.
examples: text: approved by the consent of the moste ancient doctors of the Churche [part of the book title]
ref: 1550, Thomas Cranmer, A Defence of the True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ; with a Confutation of sundry Errors concerning the same, grounded and stablished upon God's Holy Word, and approved by the consent of the most ancient Doc. tors of the Church:
glosses: Experienced; versed.
examples: text: They mourned their ancient leader lost.
ref: 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book II”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
glosses: Former; sometime.
Synonyms: sense: very old
word: aged
word: eldern
word: hoary
word: old
Derived terms: AADAOPA
anciency
ancient astronaut
ancient document
Ancient Egypt
ancient grain
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek
ancient history
ancientism
ancient Kangleipak
ancient lights
anciently
Ancient Macedonian
ancient marineress
ancient monument
ancient Near Eastern
ancientness
ancient regime
Ancient Rome
ancientry
ancients
ancient times
nonancient
superancient
unancient
Related terms: antic
antiquarian
antiquary
antiquated
antique
antiquity