Some common synonyms of antique are ancient, antiquated, archaic, obsolete, old, and venerable. While all these words mean "having come into existence or use in the more or less distant past," antique applies to what has come down from a former or ancient time.

// collected antique Chippendale furniture

The synonyms venerable and antique are sometimes interchangeable, but venerable stresses the impressiveness and dignity of great age.

// the family's venerable patriarch

In some situations, the words archaic and antique are roughly equivalent. However, archaic implies having the character or characteristics of a much earlier time.

// the play used archaic language to convey a sense of period