The difference between Ancient and Old

When used as nouns, ancient means a person who is very old, whereas old means people who are old.

When used as adjectives, ancient means having lasted from a remote period, whereas old means of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years. of a perishable item, having existed for most, or more than its shelf life.

check bellow for the other definitions of Ancient and Old

  1. Ancient as an adjective:

    Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.

    Examples:

    "an ancient city  an ancient forest"

  2. Ancient as an adjective:

    Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.

    Examples:

    "an ancient author  an ancient empire"

  3. Ancient as an adjective (history):

    Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.

  4. Ancient as an adjective (obsolete):

    Experienced; versed.

  5. Ancient as an adjective (obsolete):

    Former; sometime.

  1. Ancient as a noun:

    A person who is very old.

  2. Ancient as a noun:

    A person who lived in ancient times.

  3. Ancient as a noun (heraldry, archaic):

    A flag, banner, standard or ensign.

  4. Ancient as a noun (UK, legal):

    One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.

  5. Ancient as a noun (obsolete):

    A senior; an elder; a predecessor.

  1. Ancient as a noun (obsolete, rare):

    ensign or flag

  2. Ancient as a noun (obsolete, rare):

    the bearer of a flag; ensign

  1. Old as an adjective:

    Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years. Of a perishable item, having existed for most, or more than its shelf life.

    Examples:

    "an old abandoned building;  an old friend"

    "a wrinkled old man"

    "an old loaf of bread"

  2. Old as an adjective:

    Of an item that has been used and so is not new .

    Examples:

    "I find that an old toothbrush is good to clean the keyboard with."

  3. Old as an adjective:

    Having existed or lived for the specified time.

    Examples:

    "How old are they? She’s five years old and he's seven. We also have a young teen and a two-year-old child."

    "My great-grandfather lived to be a hundred and one years old."

  4. Old as an adjective:

    Of an earlier time. Former, previous. That is no longer in existence. Obsolete; out-of-date. Familiar.

    Examples:

    "My new car is not as good as my old one.  nowrap a school reunion for Old Etonians"

    "The footpath follows the route of an old railway line."

    "That is the old way of doing things; now we do it this way."

    "When he got drunk and quarrelsome they just gave him the old heave-ho."

  5. Old as an adjective:

    Tiresome.

    Examples:

    "Your constant pestering is getting old."

  6. Old as an adjective:

    Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time.

  7. Old as an adjective:

    A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive. (Mostly in idioms like good old, big old and little old, any old and some old.)

    Examples:

    "We're having a good old time. nowrap My next car will be a big old SUV.  nowrap My wife makes the best little old apple pie in Texas."

  8. Old as an adjective (obsolete):

    Excessive, abundant.

  1. Old as a noun (with "the"):

    People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group.

    Examples:

    "A civilised society should always look after the old in the community."

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