antiquity

/ænˈtɪkwədi/

/ænˈtɪkwɪti/

Other forms: antiquities

If you find an antiquity, call a museum: you just found something very old. Antiquity can also mean the idea of oldness.

The word antique should be a clue to the meaning of this word, which refers to things that are extremely old or ancient. This isn't grandparent old — this is really old, like hundreds or even thousands of years old. People also use this word to compare old ways of doing things to new ways: you could say an old-fashioned idea is an antiquity that goes against modernity (newer ideas and ways of doing things). Antiquity can also mean the time before the Middle Ages.

Definitions of antiquity

1. noun

   the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe
   type of:

   age, historic period

   an era of history having some distinctive feature
2. noun

   an artifact surviving from the past
   types:

   antique

   any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity

   relic

   an antiquity that has survived from the distant past

   Roman building

   a building constructed by the ancient Romans

   stela, stele

   an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings

   Roman basilica, basilica

   a Roman building used for public administration

   archeological remains

   a relic that has been excavated from the soil

   type of:

   artefact, artifact

   a man-made object taken as a whole
3. noun

   extreme oldness
   synonyms: ancientness

   type of:

   oldness

   the quality of being old; the opposite of newness