ancient

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English [edit]

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Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien (old), from Latin root *anteanus, from ante (before). Compare antique.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adjective [edit]

ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient)

  1. Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age; very old.
    an ancient city
    an ancient forest
  2. Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.
    an ancient author
    an ancient empire
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, Internal Combustion[1]:
      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.

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Translations [edit]

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Noun [edit]

ancient (plural ancients)

  1. A person who is very old or who lived in ancient times.
  2. (heraldry, archaic) A flag, banner, standard or ensign.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests..

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