ancient history

noun

1. the study or a course of study of history before the end of the Western Roman Empire a.d. 476.

2. information or an event of the recent past that is common knowledge or is no longer pertinent.

   Last week's news is ancient history.

3. 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.

ancient history

noun

1. the history of the ancient world from the earliest known civilizations to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 _a.d

2. informal,  a recent event or fact sufficiently familiar to have lost its pertinence

Word History and Origins

Origin of ancient history¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

“Talking about all this like ancient history makes me feel, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve kind of come a long way,’” Pickles ruminates.

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She also said plans to close two courses - ancient history and religion and theology - would go ahead, subject to final approval by the University Council.

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But proposals to close the schools of music, modern languages, ancient history and religion and theology remain on the table, as well as plans to merge other departments.

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It seems like ancient history now, but once upon a time, there was a little backdoor pilot that dreamed of growing up to be a full-fledged reality television spectacle.

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It comes after Cardiff University confirmed the cost-cutting proposals, which could also see course closures and department mergers in subjects including nursing, modern languages, religion and theology, music, and ancient history.

Read more on BBC