relic
/ˈɹɛlɪk/
relic noun: that which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
Noun
relic (plural relics)
- That which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
- […] let him not ask our pardon;
The nature of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion we do bury
The incensing relics of it […]c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - Though a Cup of cold water from ſome hand may not be without it's reward, yet ſtick not thou for Wine and Oyl for the Wounds of the Distreſſed, and treat the poor, as our Saviour did the Multitude, to the reliques of ſome baskets.c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “(please specify the section)”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press...
- […] let him not ask our pardon;
- Something old and outdated, possibly kept for sentimental reasons.
- […] the imperfect light entering by their narrow casements showed bedsteads of a hundred years old; chests in oak or walnut, looking, with their strange carvings of palm branches and cherubs’ heads, like types of the Hebrew ark; rows of venerable chairs, high-backed and narrow; stools still more...1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 197
- Published in 1982, the now out-of-print computer guide is a real relic, full of dozens of black-and-white pictures of large, bulky computers that you would sooner find in the Smithsonian than on anybody's desk today.1991, U.S. News & World Report, volume 116, numbers 9-16, page 72
- A part of the body of a saint, or an ancient religious object, kept for veneration.
- Why ſhould onely I,
Of all the other Princes of the World,
Be caſ’d-vp, like a holy Relique?1612–1613 (date written), John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii - No Anchorite in the exstasy of devotion, ever adored a relique with more fervour than that with which I kissed this inimitable proof of my charmer’s candour, generosity and affection!1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter 57, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume II, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 240
- Synonyms:
- halidom
- Why ſhould onely I,
- A particle or entity that has existed since the Big Bang.
- One of the primary targets of current and especially future cosmological observations are light thermal relics of the hot big bang.2019, Wallisch, Benjamin, “Abstract”, in Cosmological Probes of Light Relics, page ix
Verb
relic (third-person singular simple present relics, present participle relicing or relicking, simple past and past participle reliced or relicked)
- To cause (an object) to appear old or worn, to distress.
- Age has become a fetish in the world of guitars where large amounts of money are paid for a specially “reliced” guitar. As one company, Relic Guitars, which offers this service claims, “The idea behind relicing a guitar is to artificially replicate the natural wear that occurs over many years […]”2009, Trevor Pinch, David Reinecke, “Technostalgia: How old gear lives on in new music”, in Karin Bijsterveld, José van Dijck, editors, Sound Souvenirs: Audio Technologies, Memory and Cultural...
- The whole idea of relicing an instrument is to accelerate the wear and tear that normally occurs over decades.2012, Will Kelly, How to Build Electric Guitars, page 81
Adjective
relic (not comparable)
- Pertaining to the Big Bang.
- A more realistic model must include the presence of perturbations whose extra energy can produce distortions of the relic radiation spectrum.1977, “The relic radiation spectrum and the thermal history of the universe”, in La rivista del Nuovo cimento, volume 7, number 3, page 299
- While Lasserre acknowledges that physicists are still decades away from observing a direct relic neutrino signal, he says that this work represents an important step forward in the search for the holy grail of neutrino physics.2022 June 29, “A Step Closer to Detecting Ancient Neutrinos”, in APS (Synopsis), retrieved 02 Jun 2024
relic meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
relic in Hindi
- relic
- यादगार yādgār
relic in Tamil
- மிகுந்திருப்பது
relic in Malayalam
- relic
- മൃതശരീരം mr̥taśarīraṁ
relic in Kannada
- ಕಳೇಬರ, ಮೃತ ದೇಹದ ಅವಶೇಷಗಳು, ಕುರುಹು, ಉಳಿಕೆಗಳು, ಭಗ್ನಾವಶೇಷ
More languagesFewer languages
- relic in Tagalog
- relikaryo, agnos
- relic in Arabic
- أَثَر ʔaṯar, ذَخِيرَة ḏaḵīra
- relic in Indonesian
- relik, peninggalan, relikui
- relic in Vietnamese
- di tích
Examples of relic in a sentence
- She exerted the last relics of her wasted strength to gain a prominent position upon a ledge of the rocks behind her […]1850, Wilkie Collins, chapter 1, in Antonina, or, The Fall of Rome, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, pages 10–11:
- All these relics gave to the third storey of Thornfield Hall the aspect of a home of the past: a shrine of memory.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […]...
- Perhaps she too had kept her memory of him as something apart; but if she had, it must have been like a relic in a small dim chapel, where there was not time to pray every day....1920, Edith Wharton, chapter 34, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- He's since run his own shop, building, winding/making pickups, doing restorations and relicing guitars.2017 January 19, “Fender® Custom Shop Commemorates 30th Anniversary Milestone With Founders Design Project Debuting At 2017 Winter NAMM”...
Synonyms of relic
Forms of relic
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | relics |
| alternative form (archaic) | relick |
| alternative form (archaic) | relique |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | relics |
| present participle | relicing |
| present participle | relicking |
| past participle | reliced |
| past | reliced |
| past participle | relicked |
| past | relicked |
Origin of relic
From Middle English relik et al., from Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae (“remains, relics”), from relinquō (“to leave behind, abandon, relinquish”), from re- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relict, derelict, and relinquish.
Words formed from relic
Questions about relic
- What does relic mean?
- Relic means that which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
- What is relic in Hindi?
- Relic in Hindi is यादगार (yādgār). See Relic meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use relic in a sentence?
- She exerted the last relics of her wasted strength to gain a prominent position upon a ledge of the rocks behind her […]
- What part of speech is relic?
- Relic can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce relic?
- Relic is pronounced /ˈɹɛlɪk/.
- What is the plural of relic?
- The plural of relic is relics.
Words near relic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: relic (page history and authors); यादगार (Hindi) (page history and authors); relic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); മൃതശരീരം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); relic (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-relic.wav.
Cite this entry: “relic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/relic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.