How to use olden in a sentence

13 example sentences · adjective, verb

Olden means from or relating to a previous era. Example: “In it he had picked up the sword of Ing, well known in olden lore.”

Examples of olden by meaning

adjectiveFrom or relating to a previous era.

olden days, olden times

adjectiveOld; ancient.

In it he had picked up the sword of Ing, well known in olden lore.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 44

verbTo grow old; age; assume an older appearance or character; become affected by age.

They were not worldly days; and so, as we olden with our passage through the world, they stay young, and we love them as pure youthful things are loved.1912, John Ayscough, Saints and Places, page 123

More sentences with olden

Anyone have any weird landmarks they often remember seeing along roads in the olden days?2005 January 22, misc.transport.road (Usenet). From the entry landmark
In olden days man fought Tyrannosaurus rex; nowadays he battles Tyrannosaurus regina—his wife.1965 January 22, “Time Listings”, in Time: The Weekly Newsmagazine, volume 85, number 4, page 2. From the entry Tyrannosaurus regina
His olden courage is without reproach; Albeit his temper trends toward gaingiving!1904, Thomas Hardy, The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon. From the entry gaingiving
Astonishing how few peasants and regular people got vamped back in the olden days, when it wasn't regulated.2012, Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan, Team Human, Harper Collins, →ISBN. From the entry vamp
In olden times (back in the day when nostalgiacs would say “time was”) your answer would be campaign manager.2007 August 5, William Safire, “Strategist, Rising”, in New York Times. From the entry nostalgiac
In the olden days there was a lot of gemuetlichkeit (fellowship) in the old homes such as this.1980, Elise Kowert, Historic homes in and around Fredericksburg, page 46. From the entry gemuetlichkeit
I get the impression that there were a lot of volcanoes in those olden times, although I might be thinking all the way back to cavemanny times.2015, Jim Benton, Live Each Day to the Dumbest (Dear Dumb Diary: Year Two), Scholastic Inc., →ISBN. From the entry cavemanny
The election judge has the key to uncable the machines in a similar manner to the olden days when the election judge kept the keys to the ballot box.2006, Abbe Waldman DeLozier, Vickie Karp, Hacked!: High Tech Election Theft in America. From the entry uncable
In olden times, you'd wander down to Mom's Cafe for a bite to eat and a cup of joe, and you would feel right at home.1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 178. From the entry joe
Her timbers were olden dreams dreamed long ago, and poets’ fancies made her tall, straight masts, and her rigging was wrought out of the people’s hopes.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 88. From the entry fancy

Meaning of olden

adjective From or relating to a previous era.
adjective Old; ancient.
verb To grow old; age; assume an older appearance or character; become affected by age.

Full definition of olden

Questions about olden in a sentence

How do you use olden in a sentence?: Olden is used as an adjective and verb. For example: “In it he had picked up the sword of Ing, well known in olden lore.”
What is a short sentence with olden?: “olden days, olden times”
What does olden mean?: Olden means from or relating to a previous era.

Adapted from Wiktionary: olden (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use olden in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/olden. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.