Archaic

/ɑːˈkeɪ.ɪk/ · noun

Meaning

(archaeology, US, usually capitalized) The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaeology, US, usually capitalized) The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).
2. (paleoanthropology) (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.
3. Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.
4. (chiefly lexicography, of words) No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity and still likely to be understood by well-educated speakers and are found in historical texts.
5. (archaeology) Belonging to the archaic period.

Example Sentences

… Archaic Stage … the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

[...] prefer the third explanation for the advanced-looking features of Neandertals (Chapter 7) and the Ngandong hominins (Chapter 6), but they have had little to say about the post-Erectine archaics from China.

A person familiar with the dialect of certain portions of Massachusetts will not fail to recognize, in ordinary discourse, many words now noted in English vocabularies as archaic, the greater part of which were in common use about the time of the King James translation of the Bible. Shakespeare stands less in need of a glossary to most New Englanders than to many a native of the Old Country.

There is in the best archaic coin work [of the Greeks] ... a strength and a delicacy which are often wanting in the fully developed art of a later age.

Brann's compass of words, idioms and phrases harks back to the archaic and reaches forward to the futuristic. Volume 1

But now he is reinvented; he is on the way to establishing himself as the official interpreter of an ancient, archaic institution to the generations that are already distant in both time and culture from the world that sustains his grandmother.

The language of the Faerie Queene was made archaic Language:— in order to be in keeping with the chivalry of bygone ages that formed its subject.

Almost every writer of power will occasionally use with strong effect an archaic term that he has unearthed from the treasures of the older English vocabulary. This is especially true of poets, who recognize that the unusualness of the archaic word will sometimes heighten the poetic effect.

Synonyms for archaic

Antonyms for archaic

Related Words

Word Forms

• archaics
• archaïc
• archaick
• archaeic
• archæic
• more archaic
• most archaic

Usage Notes

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