ancient history
the study or a course of study of history before the end of the Western Roman Empire a.d. 476.
information or an event of the recent past that is common knowledge or is no longer pertinent: Last week's news is ancient history.
an event, as in a person's life, that occurred in the remote past and has no practical relationship with the present: She was my best friend in high school, but that's ancient history now.
Origin of ancient history
1Words Nearby ancient history
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ancient history in a sentence
Fifty years later, cultural norms around unplanned pregnancy and single motherhood have shifted in ways that make the world of maternity homes seem like ancient history.
What History Teaches Us About Women Forced to Carry Unwanted Pregnancies to Term | Kelly O’Connor McNees | September 30, 2021 | TimeErick views his divorce as ancient history, so he talked about how he and his ex-wife met, struggled with infertility and in vitro fertilization and ultimately ended their relationship many years ago.
Date Lab: They were so instantly comfortable that our photographer asked if they had met before | Damona Hoffman | June 17, 2021 | Washington PostThis is not recent history, but it is not ancient history, either.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says BLM protests are ‘the same tactics the Ku Klux Klan used to use’ | Philip Bump | April 22, 2021 | Washington PostHe completed his undergraduate degree in ancient history at Bristol University before moving on to Yale for his master’s degree in international relations.
An edtech startup founded by the son of Tony Blair gets $44 million | Lucinda Shen | January 19, 2021 | FortuneFor a young woman of the post-millennial generation, Sade might seem as ancient history as jazz legend Billie Holiday.
Does any of this ancient history of the bellbottom era sound familiar to you, fellow millennial geeks?
Of Gamers, Gates, and Disco Demolition: The Roots of Reactionary Rage | Arthur Chu | October 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt seems to me like ancient history, whether fact or fiction.
Katie Couric on Diane Sawyer: 'I Wonder Who She Blew This Time' | Lloyd Grove | August 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut that may be ancient history in Providence, where the still-beloved figure may seek one more go of it in City Hall.
Can America’s Favorite Ex-Con Mayor Win Again? | David Freedlander | June 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhat he could not foresee was that a half century later Freedom Summer would not be ancient history.
The 1964 Miss. Freedom Summer Protests Won Progress At a Bloody Price | Nicolaus Mills | June 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTD-Day was 70 years ago, and to midshipmen of today, it is all but ancient history.
D-Day Historian Craig Symonds Talks About History’s Most Amazing Invasion | Marc Wortman | June 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt is impossible to form a just estimate of the Bible without some knowledge of ancient history and comparative mythology.
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordThe ruined arches of the old bridge carry the imagination back into the ancient history of the town.
Boucher, moved to the depths of his consciousness by Diderot, resolved to paint a picture taken from ancient history.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) | Richard MutherYes; she was the love of my life—I may say it now, for it is ancient history—and she loved you.
A German Pompadour | Marie HayI am personally a trifle sceptical on this point, and believe that the key to this part of ancient history is yet to be found.
Ocean to Ocean on Horseback | Willard Glazier
British Dictionary definitions for ancient history
the history of the ancient world from the earliest known civilizations to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 a.d
informal a recent event or fact sufficiently familiar to have lost its pertinence
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with ancient history
A past event, as in She's talking about her sea voyage, but that's ancient history, or And then there was his divorce, but you don't want to hear ancient history. This hyperbolic idiom transfers the field of ancient history to a much-repeated tale.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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