Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script.
Ancient, antiquated, antique, old-fashioned refer to something dating from the past. Ancient implies existence or first occurrence in a distant past: an ancient custom.
Define ancient. ancient synonyms, ancient pronunciation, ancient translation, English dictionary definition of ancient. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or belonging to times long past, especially before the fall of the Western Roman Empire : ancient cultures.
Ancient means belonging to the distant past, especially to the period in history before the end of the Roman Empire. They believed ancient Greece and Rome were vital sources of learning.
ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient) Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old. quotations
There are 21 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word ancient, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
ANCIENT meaning: 1 : very old having lived or existed for a very long time often used in an exaggerated way to describe an old machine, person, etc.; 2 : of, coming from, or belonging to a time that was long ago in the past
