archaic

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ɑːrˈkeɪɪk/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ɑrˈkeɪɪk/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(är kāik)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
ar•cha•ic /ɑrˈkeɪɪk/USA pronunciation   adj. 
  1. out-of-date or outmoded;
    antiquated:archaic attitudes.
  2. Linguistics(of a word or phrase) commonly used in an earlier time but now rare:archaic meanings.
ar•cha•i•cal•ly, adv. See -arch-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
ar•cha•ic  (är kāik),USA pronunciation adj. 
  1. marked by the characteristics of an earlier period;
    antiquated:an archaic manner; an archaic notion.
  2. Linguistics(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; methinks;forsooth.
  3. forming the earliest stage;
    prior to full development:the archaic period of psychoanalytic research.
  4. Antiquity, Fine Art(often cap.) pertaining to or designating the style of the fine arts, esp. 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. Cf. classical (def. 6), Hellenistic (def. 5).
  5. primitive;
    ancient;
    old:an archaic form of animal life.
  • Greek archaïkós antiquated, old-fashioned, equivalent. to archaî(os) old + -ikos -ic
  • French)
  • (1825–35
ar•chai•cal•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
archaic / ɑːˈkeɪɪk/
  1. belonging to or characteristic of a much earlier period; ancient
  2. out of date; antiquated
  3. (of an idiom, vocabulary, etc) characteristic of an earlier period of a language and not in ordinary use
Etymology: 19th Century: from French archaïque, from Greek arkhaïkos, from arkhaios ancient, from arkhē beginning, from arkhein to beginarˈchaically
'archaic' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

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