Word Confusion: Antique vs Retro vs Vintage

Plural for the noun: antiques
Gerund: antiquing

Third person present verb: antiques
Past tense or past participle: antiqued
Present participle: antiquing

Plural for the noun: retros

Plural for the noun: vintages

• [Of a method of finishing a wooden surface] Intended to resemble the appearance of antique furniture

Belonging to ancient times

• Old-fashioned or outdated
• Often humorous, showing signs of great age or wear
• In the tradition, fashion, or style of an earlier period
• Antiquated
• Ancient

Noting or pertaining to automobiles from 1930 or earlier

Of or belonging to the ancient Greeks and Romans

[Of paper] Neither calendered nor coated and having a rough surface

Noun:
A collectible object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its considerable age

• [Per US customs laws] Any work of art, piece of furniture, decorative object, or the like, created or produced 100 years before date of purchase

The antique style, usually Greek or Roman, especially in art

[Printing] A style of type

Verb, intransitive:
To shop for or collect antiques

• [go antiquing] Shop in stores where antiques are sold

Verb, transitive:
Make something resemble an antique by artificial means

To make or finish something, especially furniture in imitation of antiques

To emboss an image, design, letters, or the like on paper or fabric

Noun:
Clothes or music whose style or design is imitative of those of the recent past ¹

Short for retrorocket ²

Combining form:
[retro-] Denoting action that is directed backward or is reciprocal ³

Denoting location behind

• Denoting something of high quality, especially something from the past or characteristic of the best period of a person’s work

Noun:
The year or place in which wine, especially wine of high quality, was produced

• A wine of high quality made from the crop of a single identified district in a good year
• [Literary] Wine
• The harvesting of grapes for winemaking
• The grapes or wine produced in a particular season
• The time that something of quality was produced

An antique finish wasn’t appropriate for this piece.

The pietà and throne of mercy were antiques.

Homebuilders are exploring antique housing designs as part of the battle with climate change.

Car enthusiasts determined that an antique car is from the period of 1919 to 1930.

The Greeks are clamoring for the return of the antique Elgin marbles.

Brightness decreases with vintage paper.

Noun:
I prefer antiques for their quality construction and use of real wood.

My aunt and uncle dealt in antiques for years.

Jeannie prefers modern furniture to antiques.

FontSpace has some interesting antique fonts.

Verb, intransitive:
Helen and Bob intend to go antiquing at Brimfield.

We got some good deals when we went antiquing just after we got married.

Elizabeth went antiquing last week.

Verb, transitive:
She antiqued an oak chest.

If we antique the chairs, they’ll match the table.

Mary is antiquing the doors.

He finally got his retro pay.

“As is often the case in retro fashion, historical accuracy is somewhat beside the point” (Hirsch).

Combining form:
Spain retroceded the colony to France.

The rabbinic interpretation is retrojected into the biblical text.

He was making complaints of retrosternal pain.

“Medieval porch tiles came from the cathedral retrochoir, a jewel-patterned plasterwork ceiling reflects ecclesiastical vestments, and further fireplaces are Italian marble” (Shalam).

Noun:
He’s created a look that mixes Italian casual wear and American retro.

“And they were so nineties, they weren’t even retro yet” (Colfer).

“Most of the room was like lame retro” (Coben).

“Without retrorockets, spacecraft would remain in orbit for years until their orbits naturally slow, and reenter the atmosphere at a much later date” (Retrorocket).

It was a vintage Sherlock Holmes adventure.

I’ve been reading a number of vintage mysteries lately.

Noun:
The Dom Perignon (prestige Cuvee) from 2012 and 2013 are excellent vintages.

Some other sensational vintages of Bordeaux are from 1985, 1986, 1989, 1996, 1998, and 2000.

“Dante Alighieri’s direct descendants still hold the poet’s Valpolicella estate, with its vineyards” (Paull).

Vintage in a winery begins anywhere from August to October.

A vintage uses grapes harvested in a single season; grapes from other years are never mixed.

Their cache consisted of rifles of various sizes and vintages.

1. 1960s from the French rétro, and abbreviation of rétrograde meaning retrograde.
2. Unknown
3. From the Latin retro meaning backwards.