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2
as in antique
something belonging to or surviving from an earlier period in my grandparents' attic are many "groovy" relics from the 1960s

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3
as in dinosaur
one that has passed the peak of effectiveness or popularity his courtly manners marked him as a relic of a more refined and formal era

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

4
as in remains
relics plural a dead body though it is believed that missionary died in New Guinea, his relics have never been found

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of relic Key features of the experience include: Direct interaction with authentic WWII relics—viewers can flip through photo albums, handle artifacts, and read letters, mirroring Jennifer’s journey. Time Pr, Time, 27 May 2025 Teresa’s heart is kept in a jar in another part of the church while her fingers, jaw, hand are kept in other churches as relics across Europe. Nick Butler, FOXNews.com, 27 May 2025 This year, the penny is on its way to be as much of a relic as the half-cent, abolished in 1857. Michael Barclay, Quartz, 22 May 2025 Without a clear plan, Soldier Field risks becoming a costly relic — an iconic venue with no clear purpose. Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for relic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for relic
Noun
  • Admission is free, and visitors can explore the museum’s collection of more than 350 vehicles and missiles plus thousands of artifacts.
    Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 23 June 2025
  • The series follows collectors in search of unique artifacts in small towns and back roads throughout the United States.
    Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 June 2025
Noun
  • The designer invited guests to St. Marylebone Jobcentre, where one floor was dedicated to the show and another was turned into a street market with stalls selling T-shirts, magazines, antiques and accessories.
    Hikmat Mohammed, Footwear News, 15 June 2025
  • The owner collected antiques from movie and TV sets, his favorite London hotels, and at least 50 manor estates.
    Katie Nanton, Travel + Leisure, 12 June 2025
Noun
  • But finding small dinosaurs like this is much rarer, partly because they’re overlooked by fossil hunters searching for bigger, more impressive dinosaurs and partly because smaller skeletons are more likely to be ripped apart by predators and scavengers.
    Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 25 June 2025
  • In the chaotic aftermath of the strike, roughly 75 percent of all species worldwide went extinct, including the non-avian dinosaurs.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2025
Noun
  • As land and sea collapse, a mother and her son resist in their own ways, holding on to the fading traces of home, memory, and love.
    Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 24 June 2025
  • Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until traces of the whisk appear.
    Lynda Balslev, Mercury News, 18 June 2025
Noun
  • Sonny strides onto the track with unruffled cool—a Pitt signature—and is laconic enough to endure a series of press conferences at which journalists are quick to label him a has-been.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 20 June 2025
  • On June 8, Nicole Scherzinger, 46, won her first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role as Norma Desmond, a has-been staging a comeback in Sunset Blvd, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway adaptation of the 1950 film by the same name.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 9 June 2025
Noun
  • The scene is absurd to the point of funny—four men in tight quarters with an exposed corpse and yet affably disinterested.
    Diana Arterian June 16, Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
  • One, set in a natural history museum, involves fossils; there’s a locked room mystery (with a mystery writer for a victim), which delights Patience, an Agatha Christie fan, and there’s a corpse that seemingly walks off a table in the morgue.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
Noun
  • The researchers used remnants of coral species that only live in shallows very near the sea surface.
    David Bressan, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025
  • This removes ghosting, which happens when new content appears on screen but the display still shows remnants of previous content.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 18 June 2025
Noun
  • As nature’s clean-up crew, these creatures quickly and efficiently dispose of unsightly, smelly and disease-causing carcasses—without charging a dime.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 June 2025
  • While checking trail cameras from the Owl Mountains, wildlife officials found a photo of a large Eurasian griffon vulture standing next to a dead animal carcass, the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Wrocław said in a June 13 Facebook post.
    Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 16 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Relic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/relic. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.

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