antique

/ænˈtik/

/ænˈtik/

Other forms: antiques; antiquing; antiquely; antiqued

An antique is an old-fashioned thing, like a lamp from the sixties. Anything antique is old or at least old-ish.

When you see the word antique, you know you're not going to hear about anything new or young. An antique is a nice, old piece of furniture, that's usually been well taken care of and costs more than something new. Shopping for antiques is called antiquing. Outside of antique shops, calling anything antique means it's out-of-date and useless — so if you wanted to be mean, you could call your grandparents antiques.

Definitions of antique

1. adjective

   made in or typical of earlier times and valued for its age
   “the beautiful antique French furniture”

   synonyms:

   old

   of long duration; not new
2. adjective

   belonging to or lasting from times long ago
   “the antique fear that days would dwindle away to complete darkness”

   synonyms: age-old

   old

   of long duration; not new
3. adjective

   out of fashion
   “a suit of rather antique appearance”

   synonyms: demode, ex, old-fashioned, old-hat, outmoded, passe, passee, vintage

   unfashionable, unstylish

   not in accord with or not following current fashion
4. noun

   any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity
   type of:

   antiquity

   an artifact surviving from the past
5. noun

   an elderly man
   synonyms: gaffer, old geezer, old-timer, oldtimer

   type of:

   Methuselah, graybeard, greybeard, old man

   a man who is very old
6. verb

   give an antique appearance to
   “antique furniture”

   synonyms: antiquate

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
7. verb

   shop for antiques
   “We went antiquing on Saturday”

   type of:

   browse, shop

   shop around; not necessarily buying