Learn English – What’s the difference between “archaic” and “obsolete” in dictionaries

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I have come across both of these terms when searching words via google. Is there a difference between these two terms, or is it just a case of one dictionary prefering one term over another?

Best Answer

According to dictionary.com,

The meaning of these temporal labels can be somewhat different among dictionaries and thesauri. The label archaic is used for words that were once common but are now rare. Archaic implies having the character or characteristics of a much earlier time. Obsolete indicates that a term is no longer in active use, except, for example, in literary quotation.

Thus, "obsolete" is somewhat of a stronger word than archaic, indicating that a word may be no longer in use at all, while an "archaic" word may be old-fashioned and rarely used but still understandable or occasionally used. Since the definition does vary, the best place to learn the distinction between these terms for a particular dictionary isn't from this site, but from the dictionary itself: dictionaries do generally have explanations of the terms they use in entries.

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