antiquated

Etymology

It is formed from English antiquate + -ed,^[2][3][4][5] the verb being from Latin antīquātus, the past participle of antīquō (“to restore to an old state; in Late Latin, to make old or obsolete”),^[5][6][7][8] from antīquus (“ancient, old; old-fashioned”), the source of antique.^[5][6][9] The Oxford Dictionary of English names ecclesiastical Latin as the immediate source.^[10] English already had an older adjective, antiquate, from about 1425,^[2][5][4] though Merriam-Webster dates it to 1537;^[7] the OED takes it from the same participle, used for aged or old in British sources from the 8th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

No longer relevant or appropriate, outmoded: 1587, in J. Bridges's defence of the Church of England.^[2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also say the late 16th century;^[3][10] Merriam-Webster gives 1601,^[7] and Etymonline the 1620s, on a verb it dates to the 1590s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the first sense is chiefly disparaging.^[2] In 1598, in Florio's dictionary, it also meant long-established or inveterate, a use the OED follows to 1833^[2] and Merriam-Webster still gives.^[7] In 1623, in Ben Jonson's contribution to the Shakespeare volume of that year, Terence and Plautus lie "antiquated and deserted", that is, out of use.^[2][3] Jonson's New Inne (1631) applied the word to a person showing signs of great age,^[2] and Addison later wrote of a maiden aunt as one of "these Antiquated Sybils".^[3] From 1649 it could also describe a far-off period.^[2] A style no longer current could be called antiquated from 1654.^[2] Johnson (1755) entered only the verb, "to put out of use; to make obsolete".^[11]

Timeline

• 1587 – outmoded, no longer relevant.^[2]
• 1598 – long-established, inveterate (last recorded 1833).^[2]
• 1623 – disused, obsolete.^[2][3]
• 1631 – of a person, showing signs of great age.^[2]
• 1649 – of a period, ancient, olden.^[2]
• 1654 – old-fashioned in form or style.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Out of date; old-fashioned or outmoded: The office still relies on an antiquated filing system.^[9][7][2]
2. No longer in use; obsolete.^[9][7][2]
3. Very old; of a person, elderly or superannuated.^[9][7][2]
4. (archaic) Of long standing; inveterate.^[3][7] The OED marks the sense obsolete after 1833.^[2]

Word family

• antiquatedness
• unantiquated

Related words

• antic
• ancient
• antiquary
• antiquarian
• antique
• antiquity
• antiquate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.