relict

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.4 Adjective 1.5 Related terms

[edit] English

Wikipedia

[edit] Etymology

Latin relictus, past participle of relinquere ‘relinquish’.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /'rɛlɪkt/

[edit] Noun

relict (plural relicts)

1. (archaic) the surviving member of a married couple after one or the other has died; a widow or widower

   • 1973: But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honorable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife – my widow, my relict – with a decent competence, an assured future. — Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise

2. (biology, geology) a species or other structure which has survived from a previous age
3. (linguistics) a survival of an archaic word, language or other form

[edit] Adjective

relict (not comparable)

1. surviving, remaining
2. that is a relict, pertaining to a relict

   • 1992: In the lakes and in the streams were species of fish not known elsewhere on earth and birds and lizards and other forms of life as well all long relict here for the desert stretched away on every side. — Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

[edit] Related terms

• delict
• delinquency
• delinquent
• derelict
• relic
• relinquish
• reliquary