ancient
/ˈeɪn.ʃənt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
nonstandard/ˈeɪŋk.ʃənt/
ancient adjective: having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
Adjective
ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient or ancientmost)
- Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
- an ancient city
- an ancient forest
- Synonyms:
- aged
- 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
- Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.
- Experienced; versed.
- approved by the consent of the moste ancient doctors of the Churche [part of the book title]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...
- Former; sometime.
- They mourned their ancient leader lost.1715–1720, Homer, “Book II”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC
Noun (1)
ancient (plural ancients)
- 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.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 131
- Synonyms:
- geriatric
- 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.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 210
- Synonyms:
- antique
- One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.
- A senior; an elder; a predecessor.
- Junius and Andronicus […] in Christianity […] were his ancients.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- Synonyms:
- antecessor
Noun (2)
ancient (plural ancients)
- A flag, banner, standard or ensign.
- [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, […]c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]
- 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..1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC
- The bearer of a flag; ensign.
- 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...c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]
ancient meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ancient in Hindi
- having lasted from a remote period
- प्राचीन prācīn, पुरातन purātan, पुराण purāṇ, क़दीम qadīm, कदीम kadīm
ancient in Tamil
- பழமையான, பண்டைய, தொன்மை வாய்ந்த
ancient in Marathi
- ancient
- जुने j̈une, पुराणे purāṇe
ancient in Urdu
- having lasted from a remote period
- قَدِیم qadīm, پْراچِین prācīn, پَراچِین parācīn, پُراتَن purātan
More languagesFewer languages
- ancient in Bengali
- প্রাচীন pracin, কদীম kodim
- ancient in Telugu
- ప్రాచీనము prācīnamu, ప్రాత prāta, తొలి toli
- ancient in Malayalam
- പുരാതന purātana, പ്രാചീന prācīna
- ancient in Kannada
- ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ prācīna
- ancient in Punjabi
- ਪ੍ਰਾਚੀਨ prācīn
- ancient in Odia
- ପୂରୁବ puruba
- ancient in Sanskrit
- प्राचीन prācīna, पुराण purāṇa
- ancient in Sinhala
- පෙර pera
- ancient in Assamese
- পুৰণা purona
- ancient in Pashto
- لرغونی lërǧuni, قديم qadím
- ancient in Tagalog
- sinauna
- ancient in Arabic
- قَدِيم qadīm, عَتِيق ʕatīq, عَرِيق ʕarīq
- ancient in Malay
- kuno, purba
- ancient in Indonesian
- kuno, purba
- ancient in Thai
- โบราณ boo-raan, เก่าแก่ gào-gɛ̀ɛ
- ancient in Vietnamese
- cổ đại, xưa, cổ
- ancient in Myanmar
- ရှေး hre:, ဟောင်း haung:
Examples of ancient in a sentence
- 'An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 2:
- 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.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion, →OL:
- The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds.2022 January 22, Jonathan Reiner, “If you think that glass of wine is good for you, it’s time to reconsider”, in CNN:
Synonyms of ancient
Antonyms
Forms of ancient
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | ancienter |
| comparative | more ancient |
| superlative | ancientest |
| superlative | most ancient |
| superlative | ancientmost |
| alternative form | antient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | anchient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | aunchient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | auncient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | auntient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | awncient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | awntient |
| alternative form (obsolete) | ancyent |
| Noun | |
| plural | ancients |
Origin of ancient
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.
Corruption of ensign.
Words formed from ancient
- AADAOPA
- anciency
- ancient alien
- 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
Phrases with ancient
Questions about ancient
- What does ancient mean?
- Ancient means having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
- What is ancient in Hindi?
- Ancient in Hindi is प्राचीन (prācīn), पुरातन (purātan), पुराण (purāṇ). See Ancient meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ancient in a sentence?
- 'An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.
- What part of speech is ancient?
- Ancient can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ancient?
- Ancient is pronounced /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/.
Words near ancient in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ancient (page history and authors); ancient (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); जुने (Marathi) (page history and authors); తొలి (Telugu) (page history and authors); ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਪ੍ਰਾਚੀਨ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ପୂରୁବ (Odia) (page history and authors); පෙර (Sinhala) (page history and authors); পুৰণা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ancient.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ancient.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ancient. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.