51Թ

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View synonyms for

archaic

[ ahr-key-ik ]

adjective

  1. marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated:

    an archaic manner; an archaic notion.

  2. (of a linguistic form) commonly used in an earlier time but rare in present-day usage except to suggest the older time, as in religious rituals or historical novels. Examples:

    thou; wast; methinks; forsooth.

  3. forming the earliest stage; prior to full development:

    the archaic period of psychoanalytic research.

  4. (often initial capital letter) pertaining to or designating the style of the fine arts, especially painting and sculpture, developed in Greece from the middle 7th to the early 5th century b.c., chiefly characterized by an increased emphasis on the human figure in action, naturalistic proportions and anatomical structure, simplicity of volumes, forms, or design, and the evolution of a definitive style for the narrative treatment of subject matter. Compare classical ( def 6 ), Hellenistic ( def 5 ).
  5. primitive; ancient; old:

    an archaic form of animal life.



archaic

/ ɑːˈɪɪ /

adjective

  1. belonging to or characteristic of a much earlier period; ancient
  2. out of date; antiquated

    an archaic prison system

  3. (of idiom, vocabulary, etc) characteristic of an earlier period of a language and not in ordinary use
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Usage Note

Archaic is used as a label in this dictionary for terms and definitions that were current roughly as late as 1900 but are now employed only as conscious archaisms, as described and exemplified in definition 2 above. An archaic term is generally more recognizable, as when encountered in literature, than one labeled Obsolete.
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Derived Forms

  • ˈ󲹾, adverb
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Other 51Թ Forms

  • ·i·· adverb
  • d··i adjective
  • pseudo··i·· adverb
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of archaic1

First recorded in 1825–35; from French ïܱ, or directly from Greek ïó “antiquated, old-fashioned,” equivalent to î(Dz) “old” + -ikos adjective suffix; -ic
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of archaic1

C19: from French ïܱ, from Greek ïDz, from arkhaios ancient, from ŧ beginning, from arkhein to begin
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

District Court Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration officials to halt any future deportations under the archaic and rarely used act, demanding that any deportees in transit be returned to the United States.

From

"Edison Denisov was a classicist with very subtle yet strict logic. Alfred Schnittke was a romantic. My style could be best described as archaic."

From

There is something archaic about these massive, welded hunks of steel, that seemed to have their heyday in the Pacific War of the 1940s.

From

But campaigners say India cannot hide behind archaic laws to deny women bodily agency.

From

The archaic society was known for the prowess of its soldiers and its brawny militarism.

From

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