English Reference
Idiom idiom

ancient history


That which happened a long time ago and not worth discussing any more.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

Our old argument is ancient history now.

CONTEXTUAL

She told her friend that her past mistakes were ancient history and she wanted to move on.

COMPLEX

Although the bitter rivalry between the two families had been ancient history for decades, the townspeople still whispered about the original conflict.


Related idioms2entries
  1. 01

    make history

    To do something that will be widely remembered for a long time.

  2. 02

    the rest is history

    One does not need to continue narrating a story as the subsequent events are assumed to be well-known.

Last updated August 10, 2026