Meaning & use
antique
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Very old and often valued for that reason, especially an object from a much earlier time such as furniture or silverware.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: an antique clock; it is not normally used after a verb.
Patterns
- antique furniture
- an antique shop
She inherited an antique mirror with a carved wooden frame.
They spent the weekend browsing antique shops in the old town.
The antique rug was too delicate to walk on.
nouncountable
An old object, such as a piece of furniture, jewelry or pottery, that is collected or sold because of its age and quality.
Grammar: Countable: an antique, many antiques; the dealer sells antiques.
Patterns
- collect antiques
- an antique from the 1800s
The table is a genuine antique from the eighteenth century.
My aunt collects antiques and visits auctions every month.
He sold several antiques to pay for repairs to the house.
adjectivecomparablehumorousinformal
Old-fashioned or out of date, sometimes used jokingly about a person or machine.
Grammar: Comparable in informal use: this computer is more antique than mine.
My dad still uses an antique phone with a cord.
The school's antique copier jams every other page.
That joke is positively antique.
Word forms
| plural | antiques |
|---|
Common combinations
- antique furniture
- Their home is full of antique furniture.
- antique dealer
- The antique dealer examined the vase carefully.
- antique shop
- We found a brass lamp in a tiny antique shop.
- genuine antique
- Experts confirmed that the clock was a genuine antique.
- antique market
- The antique market opens on Sunday mornings.
- priceless antique
- The vase turned out to be a priceless antique.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vintage
- Vintage suits items from a recognizable earlier era, such as clothes or cars, and is usually less old than an antique.
- ancient
- Ancient points to the far past, such as Rome or Egypt, while antique describes a collectible object of a more recent age.
- old-fashioned
- Old-fashioned just means out of style and carries no sense of value, unlike antique.
- heirloom
- An heirloom is something passed down through a family, whether or not it is old enough to be an antique.
Opposites
Word family
- antiquity noun
- the ancient past, or the quality of being very old
- antiquated adjective
- too old-fashioned to be useful
- antiquarian noun
- a person who studies or collects old objects and books
- antiquing noun
- the hobby of hunting for antiques
Commonly confused: antique or antic? antique or vintage?
antique vs antic
Antic (usually antics) means silly or playful behavior; it is unrelated to old objects.
antique vs vintage
Vintage suggests classic quality from a past period, while antique usually implies an item around a hundred years old or more.
Practice
A dealer says a chair is 'a genuine antique'. What does she most likely mean?
Choose one answer.
Antique refers to an old object prized for its age. The second option describes a reproduction, and the other options contradict the idea of a valuable old piece.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antique”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.