ancient — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.

   Examples

   an ancient city

   an ancient forest

   More examples (2)

   [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?

   '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.'

2. Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.

   Examples

   an ancient author

   an ancient empire

   More examples (3)

   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.

   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.

   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.

4. Experienced; versed.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   approved by the consent of the moste ancient doctors of the Churche [part of the book title]

5. Former; sometime.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   They mourned their ancient leader lost.

Noun

1. A person who is very old.

   Examples

   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. A person who lived in ancient times.

   Examples

   What is ancient for us was in its own time a reworking of what was ancient for the ancients.

3. One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.

   Usage

   • UK usage

4. A senior; an elder; a predecessor.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   Junius and Andronicus […] in Christianity […] were his ancients.

Noun

1. A flag, banner, standard or ensign.

   Usage

   • Archaic

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   [D]iſcarded, vniuſt ſeruingmen, yonger ſonnes to yonger brothers, reuolted tapſters, and Oſtlers, tradefalne, the cankers of a calme world, and a long peace, ten times more diſhonourable ragged then an olde fazd ancient, […]

   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..

2. The bearer of a flag; ensign.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Rare

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   I preſt mee none but such toſtes and butter with hearts in their bellies no bigger then pianes heades, and they haue bought out their ſeruices, and now my whole charge conſiſts of Ancients, Corporals, Lieutenants, gentlemen of companies: ſlaues as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the gluttons dogs licked his ſores, and ſuch as indeed were neuer ſouldiours, […]

Adjective

1. belonging to times long past especially of the historical period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire

   Examples

   ancient history

   ancient civilizations such as those of the Etruscans and Sumerians

   More examples (1)

   ancient Greece

2. very old

   Examples

   an ancient mariner

Noun

1. a very old person

   Synonyms

   antediluvian

   Broader terms

   oldsterold personsenior citizengolden ager

2. a person who lived in ancient times

   Broader terms

   actordoerworker