antiquated
Americanadjective
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continued from, resembling, or adhering to the past; old-fashioned.
antiquated attitudes.
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no longer used; obsolete or obsolescent.
The spinning wheel is an antiquated machine.
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aged; old.
antiquated aunts and uncles.
adjective
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outmoded; obsolete
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aged; ancient
Related Words
See ancient 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of antiquated
Explanation
Something is antiquated when it is so old that it is no longer useful. If your parents believe that you shouldn't use the Internet when you write papers for school, you might call their ideas antiquated. Something is antiquated when it is so old, it's like an antique or recognizable from another era and has the negative feel of being thoroughly outmoded. Things like typewriters, sealing wax for letters, and ideas of proper etiquette all seem antiquated in modern society. Currently, things get antiquated ever faster — 5-inch floppy disks for computers and dial-up modems were very modern fifteen years ago, but now they're antiquated.
Vocabulary lists containing antiquated
Good Riddance
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Ancient Wisdom: Synonyms for "Old"
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This Week in Words: July 28 - August 3, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a series of posts on social media, Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared to blame antiquated military hardware for the accident.
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026
The Transportation Department is working to overhaul the air-traffic control system, seeking billions of dollars of additional funding to upgrade antiquated systems.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
Experts consider the equal-time rule to be antiquated, designed for a time when consumers were limited to a handful of TV channels and a dozen radio stations if they lived in a big city.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026
FCC Chair Brendan Carr has said the existing rules are antiquated and anticompetitive and should be changed.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 9, 2026
Shaken by that vision from another world, Aureliano Triste barely noticed that the woman was aiming an antiquated pistol at him.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
