antiquity

noun

an·​tiq·​ui·​ty an-ˈti-kwə-tē 

plural antiquities

1

: ancient times

especially : those before the Middle Ages

a town that dates from antiquity

2

: the quality of being ancient

a castle of great antiquity

3

antiquities plural

a

: relics or monuments (such as coins, statues, or buildings) of ancient times

a museum of Greek antiquities

b

: matters relating to the life or culture of ancient times

the study of Germanic antiquities

4

: the people of ancient times

records left by antiquity

Synonyms

• age
• agedness
• ancientness
• hoariness

Examples of antiquity in a Sentence

The town dates from antiquity.

A palace stood here in antiquity.

a museum of Roman antiquities

Recent Examples on the Web

Applications in Antiquity In antiquity, rosemary became an emblem of faithful remembrance and immortality. —Nina Foster, JSTOR Daily, 20 Dec. 2024

There was an easy confidence in antiquity, and all the way up to the Renaissance, that translation was indeed possible—though the more modern language may need to be stretched to accommodate the semantic richness, and classical authority, of the original. —Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2024

The desire to know more about the future may be almost universally human, but the ability to divine what lies ahead was certainly not universal, at least in antiquity. —Elizabeth Djinis, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Oct. 2024

Courtesy of Luke Auld-Thomas et al/Cambridge University Press Archaeologists increasingly recognize that the world's tropics and subtropics hosted a wide variety of urban forms in antiquity. —Anna Lagos, WIRED, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

see antique entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

antiquity

noun

an·​tiq·​ui·​ty an-ˈtik-wət-ē 

plural antiquities

1

: ancient times

especially : those before the Middle Ages

2

: very great age

3

plural : objects or monuments from ancient times