Archaicizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Gives something an antiquated style or character, making it appear old-fashioned or belonging to a past era
2. Renders language, speech, or a thing outdated by imitating or reviving old forms that are no longer in common use
3. Makes a work, object, or manner seem ancient or obsolete, often by deliberately adopting an earlier style

Etymology: "Archaicizes" is the third-person singular present form of "archaicize," meaning to make something archaic or to render it old-fashioned. The verb is built from "archaic," which comes from Greek "arkhaikos," meaning "ancient" or "old-fashioned," itself derived from "arkhaios," meaning "primitive" or "from the beginning." English took "archaic" from that Greek source, and the suffix "-ize" was added to turn the adjective into a verb. The suffix "-ize" is one of English's most productive verb-forming endings, traceable to Greek "-izein," which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs expressing the act of making or becoming something. So "archaicize" literally means "to make archaic," a neat piece of word-building that describes exactly what a writer does when they deliberately imitate an older style, or what time does to a word or custom as it slips out of common use.

Synonyms: archaize, antiquate, obsolesce

Antonyms: modernize, modernise, update