Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a much earlier, often more primitive period, especially one that develops into a classical stage of civilization: an archaic bronze statuette; Archaic Greece.
- adj. No longer current or applicable; antiquated: archaic laws. See Synonyms at old.
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of words and language that were once in regular use but are now relatively rare and suggestive of an earlier style or period.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; characterized by archaism; primitive; old-fashioned; antiquated: as, an archaic word or phrase.
Wiktionary
- n. archaeology, US, usually capitalized A general term for the prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, &c.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).
- n. (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.
- adj. Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.
- adj. of words No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or characterized by antiquity or archaism; antiquated; obsolescent.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
- adj. so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
Etymologies
- From archaism ("ancient or obsolete phrase or expression") or from French archaïque, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαικός (arkhaikos, "old-fashioned"), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaios, "from the beginning, antiquated, ancient, old"), from ἀρχή (arkhē, "beginning, origin"), from ἄρχω (arkhō, "I am first"). (Wiktionary)
- Greek arkhaikos, old-fashioned, from arkhaios, ancient, from arkhē, beginning, from arkhein, to begin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The forms of thou are termed archaic by Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged: "In this dictionary, the label archaic is affixed to words and senses relatively common in earlier times but infrequently used in present-day English.”
“LAVANDERA: Stay-at-home mother Melissa Pierce is leading the charge to end what she calls archaic alcohol laws.”
“With widespread illegal gambling activity, a group of Bahamians want what they call the archaic, undemocratic gaming laws in the country to be changed to afford them the right to gamble in their own country.”
“He looks up to see a man in archaic clothing stumbling down a hill, clearly being chased by vague, dark figures.”
“Those who oppose zoning will call it archaic, divisive, and unfair.”
The Huffington Post: Howard F. Jeter: Nigeria on the Brink: A Rejoinder
“It doesn't stop you from using solid rocket motors or engines designed in archaic units.”
NASA Finds The Metric System Too Hard To Implement for Constellation - NASA Watch
“One thing I was reminded of this weekend is that historic quotes in archaic language that Quakers use ... sometimes overuse .. were once contemporary language.”
“For those who are Gebserians, Rationalism is the deficient mode of Perspectival Thought Structures (preceded by efficient and defficient Mythic, Magical and the Origin [archaic] - so, an up and down side to each thought structure, of which Gebser explains 4 including the integral - the next stage in thought structures).”
You May Now Call Your Computer A… - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
“One can start to see the attraction of Catholicism, bestowing a miraculous poetry on technological advance, while anchoring the dizzying speed and confusion of the modern world in archaic ceremony.”
“Our public schools have fallen behind and our ability and willingness to innovate has been shoved aside by moneyed interests entrenched in archaic industries.”
Think Progress » Frist Defenders Dust Off The “He Doesn’t Need the Money†Defense
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘archaic’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 346 more...
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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Ar!
ar, Ar, argon, are, area, arf, arc, ark, aardwolf, aardvark, aardcucumber, yardarm and 253 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Learn!
Tweets
Looking for tweets for archaic.
reesetee I use the obsolete tag often (don't know whether I was the first) because I have a list of obsolete words. From my rare book cataloging background, I tend to use obsolete in a different way than archaic, similar to the way the OED uses them. As I understand it, "obsolete" describes a word that is no longer in use at all, whereas "archaic" refers to a specific definition or meaning of a word that is no longer in use. Oct 22, 2008
chained_bear VanishedOne's question on slate reminded me. I was wondering, yesterday, what the real difference is between obsolete and archaic, in terms of the tags on this site. I've been using archaic (mostly) to tag stuff, but there are many, many more terms tagged obsolete. (I noticed that the obsolete tag appears to have gotten started on obsolete (go figure).)
To me, obsolete means that you won't (probably) ever hear it again, whereas archaic words pop up all the time--in history, law, and other fields. (Well, maybe just in history and law.)
I guess my question is, does it matter? Is there a real difference between these two designations, or only in my small rattly brain? Oct 22, 2008