Meaning

6 senses
  1. A person who is very old.

    a very old person

  2. A person who lived in ancient times.

    a person who lived in ancient times

  3. (UK)One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.

  4. (obsolete)A senior; an elder; a predecessor.

  5. (archaic)A flag, banner, standard or ensign.

  6. (obsolete, rare)The bearer of a flag; ensign.

Examples

557 sentences
  1. Rome has a lot of ancient buildings.

    Рим має багато стародавніх будівель. — triantafillou

    ruВ Риме много древних зданий. — afyodor

    deIn Rom gibt es viele alte Gebäude. — Esperantostern

  2. This is an ancient law.

    Це стародавній закон. — deniko

    ruЭто древний закон. — Lenin_1917

    deDas ist ein altes Gesetz. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

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  3. That castle was built in ancient times.

    deDiese Burg wurde in alten Zeiten erbaut. — Manfredo

  4. My father is interested in ancient history.

    ruМой отец интересуется историей древнего мира. — marafon

    deMein Vater interessiert sich für Alte Geschichte. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  5. Cats were sacred animals in ancient Egypt.

    Кішки у Стародавньому Єгипті були священними тваринами. — triantafillou

    ruКошки в Древнем Египте были священными животными. — Shady_arc

    deKatzen waren heilige Tiere im alten Ägypten. — MUIRIEL

Origin

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed of Latin ante (“before”) + -ānus (adjective-forming suffix). The non-etymological excrescent /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.

Corruption of ensign.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: ancients

Synonyms

7 synonyms
person who lived in ancient times:antiqueB1
person who is very old:geriatric
predecessor:antecessor
Close in meaning

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
ancient — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto