ARCHAIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does archaic mean? 

• ARCHAIC (adjective)
  The adjective ARCHAIC has 2 senses:

1. so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

2. little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type

  Familiarity information: ARCHAIC used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARCHAIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

So extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

Synonyms:

antediluvian; antiquated; archaic

Context example:

archaic laws

Similar:

old (of long duration; not new)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type

Synonyms:

archaic; primitive

Context example:

the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe

Similar:

early (being or occurring at an early stage of development)

 Context examples 

Around 50,000-70,000 years ago, some humans expanded out of Africa and soon after mixed with archaic Eurasian groups.

(Global human genome study reveals our complex evolutionary history, University of Cambridge)

It trained his ear and gave him a fine appreciation for noble English; withal it introduced into his mind much that was archaic and obsolete.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)