relic

American  

[rel-ik] / ˈrɛl ɪk /

noun

• relics
  plural

1. a surviving memorial of something past.

2. an object having interest by reason of its age or its association with the past.

   a museum of historic relics.

3. a surviving trace of something.

   a custom that is a relic of paganism.

4. relics,

   1. remaining parts or fragments.

   2. the remains of a deceased person.

5. something kept in remembrance; souvenir; memento.

6. Ecclesiastical. (especially in the Roman Catholic and Greek churches) the body, a part of the body, or some personal memorial of a saint, martyr, or other sacred person, preserved as worthy of veneration.

7. a once widespread linguistic form that survives in a limited area but is otherwise obsolete.

---

relic British  

/ ˈrɛlɪk /

noun

1. something that has survived from the past, such as an object or custom

2. something kept as a remembrance or treasured for its past associations; keepsake

3. (usually plural) a remaining part or fragment

4. RC Church Eastern Churches part of the body of a saint or something supposedly used by or associated with a saint, venerated as holy

5. informal an old or old-fashioned person or thing

6. archaic (plural) the remains of a dead person; corpse

7. ecology a less common term for relict

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reliclike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• relics
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of relic

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French relique < Latin reliquiae (plural) remains (> Old English reliquias ), equivalent to reliqu ( us ) remaining + -iae plural noun suffix

---

Explanation

A relic is a fragment from the past — one of Elvis's guitars, an ancient piece of pottery or even an outmoded way of thinking -– that remains behind. Your dad might love his old albums, but to you, they're just relics. The noun relic is derived from relinquere, Latin for "to leave behind." A crumbling Roman wall is a relic of a once-great civilization. The superstition that seven years of bad luck will follow if you break a mirror may be a relic of the old superstition that a mirror can trap the souls of those reflected in it. Whether it's an object or an idea, a relic is a remnant of the past. Religious relics are items, such as Buddha’s tooth or St. Anne’s wrist bone, that have been preserved and venerated.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relic relics

Yet for some, Ali G is a relic of the past whose cultural appropriation is no longer funny.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Collectively, they argue that this isn’t simply a relic from another era, but a place of multigenerational connection, a reminder of the beauty of handmade art and a statement piece of Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

He was a sad figure adrift, a relic virtually alone until he was hunted down by the CIA and French intelligence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

This relic of combustion awakens in the morning with the refinement of a coffee grinder, winding at around 3,000 rpm until the catalytic converter heats up and the revs fall back to idle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

The tombwalk was a relic of the old palace cemetery, cut off from the rest of the grounds by the construction of the astronomers’ tower.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

It also contained various other relics – including metal weapons – belonging to the pre-Incan Chimu civilisation, a culture that flourished on the northern coast of Peru between 900 and 1470 AD.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

There are large fragments of salt-eaten machinery littering the shore, relics of the island’s martial heyday.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

The people who work at Arion certainly don’t see themselves, or their work, as relics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

If so, these relics could still affect how galaxies are structured billions of years later.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

Some believe they are natural features, perhaps relics of lightning fires, and some believe that they are man-made, burned or cleared to provide land for summer grazing.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• antique
• antiquity
• artifact
• curio
• evidence
• fragment
• keepsake
• memento
• monument
• remains
• remnant
• souvenir

---