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# ancient

«ancient» in Mova's school dictionary: **belonging to a time very, very long ago, often thousands…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (ancient, more ancient, most ancient)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Ancient means belonging to a time very, very long ago, often thousands of years ago. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#m1)

2) Ancient can mean very old (often said as a joke about something old). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, «ancient» describes old civilisations such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient China, with pyramids, temples and myths. In science, ancient rocks and fossils show the Earth's past. In stories, ancient forests, castles and spells set a mysterious mood. Phrases: «ancient history», «Ancient Egypt», «the ancients», «ancient ruins».

### examples

- The Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x1)
- We are learning about Ancient Greece. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x2)
- The forest has ancient oak trees. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x3)
- The museum shows ancient coins. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x4)
- The ancient Romans built straight roads. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x5)
- This computer is ancient! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x6)
- The temple is in ruins because it is so ancient. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x7)
- Dinosaur fossils are found in ancient rocks. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x8)
- MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/#x9)

### note

Spelling trap: ancient (c, then -ient), pronounced «AYN-shunt». When it is part of a name, like Ancient Egypt, it often has a capital A. «That's ancient history» means something happened long ago and no longer matters.

### In the corpora

- [In Aesop's fable from ancient Greece, about 2500 years ago, a little mouse saves a lion by gnawing through a net.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/18-the-lion-king-of-the-beasts/12/)
- [The wise owl idea comes from ancient Greece, where the owl was the bird of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/154-more-animal-myths-from-cartoons/14/)
- [Long before ancient Britons traded there, he says, Taffy and her Daddy had their home on that down.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/10/)
- [Drying removes the water germs need, so dried fruit keeps for months; ancient Egyptians dried food in the sun to store it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/23-browning-apples-rotting-and-mould/15/)
- [«Ancient», «conscience» and «conscious» spell a /sh/ sound with ci or sci.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/14-words-to-know-years-5-6/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ancient» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ancient/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.