antiqueness

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

an•tique /ænˈtik/   adj., n., v., -tiqued, -ti•quing. 
adj. [before a noun]

1. of or belonging to the past;
   not modern:
   antique times.
2. of or belonging to ancient Rome or Greece.
3. in the tradition or style of an earlier period:
   antique carvings; antique cabinets.
4. concerned with selling or buying old objects such as furniture:
   an antique dealer; an antique shop.

n. [countable]

5. Furniture something produced in an earlier period, or, according to U.S. customs laws, 100 years before date of purchase:
   beautiful and rare antiques.

v. 

6. Furniture to treat so as to give an antique appearance:
   [~ + object] to antique the old chest of drawers.
7. to shop for or collect antiques:
   [no object] went antiquing.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

an•tique  (an tēk′), adj., n., v., -tiqued, -ti•quing. 
adj. 

1. of or belonging to the past;
   not modern.
2. dating from a period long ago:
   antique furniture.
3. Automotive noting or pertaining to automobiles approximately 25 years old or more.
4. in the tradition, fashion, or style of an earlier period;
   old-fashioned;
   antiquated.
5. of or belonging to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
6. (of paper) neither calendered nor coated and having a rough surface.
7. ancient.

n. 

8. any work of art, piece of furniture, decorative object, or the like, created or produced in a former period, or, according to U.S. customs laws, 100 years before date of purchase.
9. the antique style, usually Greek or Roman, esp. in art.
10. [Print.] a style of type.

v.t. 

11. to make or finish (something, esp. furniture) in imitation of antiques.
12. to emboss (an image, design, letters, or the like) on paper or fabric.

v.i. 

13. to shop for or collect antiques:
    She spent her vacation antiquing in Boston.

• Latin antīiquus, antīicus in front, existing earler, ancient; compare antic posticum
• Middle French antique)
• earlier also anticke (1520–30

an•tique′ly, adv. 
an•tique′ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. bygone, archaic.
• 2. old, obsolete, obsolescent. See ancient¹.