ancient
//ˈeɪn.ʃənt//
Forms
- Comparative
- ancienter
- Superlative
- ancientest
- Plural
- ancients
Definitions
1.Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
- I want to be a monk in an ancient monastery.
2.Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.
- The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds.
3.Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.
- I want to be a monk in an ancient monastery.
1.A person who is very old.
- Hetty and Mrs. Piper watched them with a lynx-eyed understanding and before the ancient was well upon his road his way was blocked by Hetty.
2.One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.
3.A person who lived in ancient times.
- What is ancient for us was in its own time a reworking of what was ancient for the ancients.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2072
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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 excrescent /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.