Definition of "antiquity" []

• Ancient times, especially the times preceding the Middle Ages. (noun)
• The people, especially the writers and artisans, of ancient times: inventions unknown to antiquity. (noun)
• The quality of being old or ancient; considerable age: a carving of great antiquity. (noun)
• Something, such as an object or a relic, belonging to or dating from ancient times. Often used in the plural. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "There have been many republics in the past, both in what we call antiquity and in what we call the Middle Ages."
• "Nature made me realize, with something of the sense of discovery, how much of what we call antiquity is really a trick of Nature."
• "Antiquitas seculi iuventus mundi; what we call antiquity and are accustomed to revere as such was the youth of the world."