Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Ecology An organism or species of an earlier time surviving in an environment that has undergone considerable change.
- n. Something that has survived; a remnant.
- n. A widow.
- adj. Geology Of or relating to something that has survived, as structures or minerals after destructive processes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who is left or who remains: a survivor.
- n. Specifically, a widower or widow, especially a widow.
- n. A thing left behind; a relic.
- Left; remaining; surviving.
- To leave.
- In phytogeography, persisting in a limited area only: said of an endemic plant which at an earlier period had a much wider range.
- In physical geography, left as a result of erosion; residual: said of mountains the form of which is due to the erosion of neigh boring valleys, as mountains of circumdenudation, and especially isolated residual mountains or monadnocks.
Wiktionary
- n. formal Something which, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
- adj. Surviving, remaining.
- adj. That is a relict; pertaining to a relict.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A woman whose husband is dead; a widow.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an organism or species surviving as a remnant of an otherwise extinct flora or fauna in an environment much changed from that in which it originated
- n. geological feature that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after other parts have disappeared
Etymologies
- From Latin relictus, past participle of relinquō ("I leave behind, abandon, relinquish"), from re- + linquō ("I leave, quit, forsake, depart from"). (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English relicte, left undisturbed, from Latin relictus, past participle of relinquere, to leave behind; see relinquish. Sense 3, Middle English relicte, from Medieval Latin relicta, from feminine past participle of Latin relinquere. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The maneless Tsavo lions could be relict -- relict is the wrong word -- cave lions, which were depicted as maneless; it could be they're all lions and the species is wildly variable, too, and I'm curious if anyone knows.”
“And Judith his relict was a widow now three years and six months.”
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 18: Judith The Challoner Revision
“For she and his relict were the only women in the big boarding-house during the hot months, and they had become intimate.”
“But, unluckily for Beorminster, he was dead and his relict was a mourning widow, who constantly referred to her victim as a perfect husband.”
“This is the first record of a temperate 'relict' species among the vertebrates of the area.”
“The periodic landward and seaward movement of the shore across the coastal plain can be seen in the landforms of the ACE Basin such as relict dune ridges and marsh plains.”
Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto (ACE) Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve, South Carolina
“And you may be a 'relict' after all, Miss Cornelia.”
“What's he hinting around at by that there word 'relict'?”
“This was Widow Townsend, "relict" of Mr. Levi Townsend, who had been mouldering into dust in the neighboring churchyard for seven years and more.”
“I will," said Polly stoutly, though "relict" sounded very dreadful to begin with.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘relict’.
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 241 more...
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phrontistery-r
from phrontistery.info
rya, rutilant, ruthful, rutherford, ruth, rusticity, rusticate, Russophobia, Russophile, russet, russel, rushlight and 514 more...
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Pet Rocks and Carbon Footprints
Soil samples for stone soup.
palynology, stratigraphy, tse'bit'ai, tse bitai, tse bit ai, bitai, minette, maar, lithosphere, peridotite, gneiss, gabbro and 115 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 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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afters
aftermath, after-tax, aftertaste, afterworld, afterword, after hours, after glow, after-hours, after-shave, after the fact, after-wit, afternoon and 44 more...
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Ecology
apishamore, argonaut, latent, unbacked, dichotomy, noctilucent, assoil, animalcule, succinct, vespertine, crozzle, vermilion and 15 more...
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Recently Licked
Blame bilby. And dontcry.
cupcake, plate, fufluns, your finger befor..., postage stamp, lips, paul mcclosky, elbow, ice cream bowl, side of coffee cup, wooden spoon, teeth and 23 more...
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Ruzuzu's totally rad, righteous, and ...
R words? Really? Right on!
retail, rabe, rutabega, Rashomon, radioisotope, Rasputin, rusty, rosacea, Rumi, riskier, rat, rifle and 53 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Gil Blas
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
reck, durance, rhodomontade, hangdog, trap, lustre, pin, boggle, dandle, birthday suit, colic, gripes and 238 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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What David Foster Wallace circled in ...
ablative, ablaut, abulia, acephalous, ACTH, adit, adumbrate, agrapha, ailanthus, aleatory, alfresco, algolagnia and 474 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for relict.

bilby Recently Lict? Jun 4, 2012
yarb I left them together, telling the steward's relict that I would join her again at the playhouse, as soon as I had sent my baggage to the Marquis de Marialva's, to whose residence she directed me.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 8 Oct 1, 2008
gangerh So, is a widower derelict? Feb 3, 2008
gangerh Yes, Minerva, have just seen it on a memorial stone from the early 1800s as 'relict of this parish'. Presumably the definition above 'a living thing that has, or can develop,the ability to act or function after other parts have disappeared' covers this. !!!! Feb 3, 2008
minerva Also a widow. Dec 4, 2007