relic of the past
2
7.2
- noun
:
reliquia del pasado
- Many consider the ancient tradition of storytelling to be a relic of the past in our fast-paced digital world.
I, I tend to see those videos as feeding something that's a relic of the past.
- I, I tend to see those videos as feeding something that's a relic of the past.
- And it's very true that the overly powerful nations of the world could be a relic of the past.
- And in this we're called gold bugs or barbaric relics of the past.
- And it would be a relic of the past that we'd be amazed, looking back, that humans did things that would be on that would be harmful to sell for others.
Examples
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Zorro is a relic of the past.
-
And the practice of law in this city "where the Ashley and Cooper rivers join to form the Atlantic Ocean," as the locals say with a wink, still embraces traditions and the values of civility and collegiality that in some places have become largely relics of the past.
Academic text (2001) -
The Area Studies model was a relic of the past.
Academic text (1997) -
Trouble is, the system itself seems a relic of the past.
Blog text (17) -
Not even Oligarchs could afford these relics of the past.
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What's more, jingoism is hardly a relic of the past.
Blog text (25) -
Talk of Colombia as a "failed state" seems almost a quaint relic of the past.
Academic text (2004) -
Most geographers think of the theory of environmental determinism as a musty, fusty relic of the past.
Academic text (1999) -
Rather than remaining fixed on the reservation as a once-assumed relic of the past, they reshaped the reservation as a homeland situated within their memories and sense of place.
Academic text (2008) -
The old telephone booth on the corner is a relic of the past from a time when people used to call from public places.
Synonyms
118
5.2
Made long ago and valued for its age or beauty
92
5.3
A thing from the past kept because it is important or valuable
34
7.1
A person or thing that has features from an earlier time
29
3.8
Something that people do not use or think about anymore
14
9.8
A person or thing from a different time that seems old-fashioned
9
4.4
A past event or fact that many people no longer care about
7
6.6
Something that remains from an earlier time
4
7.1
Not interesting or fashionable because people have seen it before
1
8.6
An old-fashioned person or thing that is out of date
An old object that reminds people of an earlier time
A person or thing that is very old-fashioned and not useful today
How Outdated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'relic' (an object preserved from the past) with 'past' via the prepositional link 'of the', so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it denotes something remaining from an earlier time and often seen as outdated. This compositional noun + of + time pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English formation, making it transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase relic of the past paints a simple picture: imagine an old relic kept from the past, like a tool in a museum or attic that clearly belongs to another time. So, calling something a relic of the past means it is 'from a much earlier time' or 'outdated'.