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 No longer current or applicable; antiquated: archaic laws.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. A general term for the prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period ("Paleo-Indian", "Paleo-American", "American-paleolithic", etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period ("Woodland", etc.).
- adj. Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.
- adj. this redundant sense?) (context 1) 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
- Greek arkhaikos, old-fashioned, from arkhaios, ancient, from arkhē, beginning, from arkhein, to begin.
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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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 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 322 more...
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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 4084 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
garbled, verbose, behoove, runt, douse, stipulate, condolence, incongruous, mundane, euphemism, brusque, labyrinth and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
lackluster, reprimand, loathe, abhor, willful, ample, tremulous, ominous, subtle, rescind, redundant, pretentious and 96 more...
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Ar!
ar, Ar, argon, are, area, arf, arc, ark, aardwolf, aardvark, aardcucumber, yardarm and 252 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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Time
clock, forever, never, ever, ago, when, then, now, past, present, future, timeline and 119 more...
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Originventory
Beformitables; previousness, past-referents, and origins.
erstwhile, formication, quondam, atavistic, umquhile, yestreen, hesternal, hesternopothia, pridian, ere, retrophilia, ante mortem and 72 more...
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rodrigo's list
aspidistra, mosaic, murmur, sussuration, clap, assiduous, hasp, clench, rhythm, solemn, seldom, slash and 18 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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archaeo-, archeo-
ancient; prehistoric
archaeology, archaeologist, archaeological, archaeoastronomy, archaeobotany, archaeodontosaurus, archaic, Archeozoic
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