relict


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Related to relict: mesophyte, Sclerophyllous

rel·ict

 (rĕl′ĭkt, rĭ-lĭkt′)
n.
1. Ecology A species that inhabits a much smaller geographic area than it did in the past, often because of environmental change.
2. Something that has survived; a remnant.
3. Law A widow or widower.
adj. Geology
Of or relating to something that has survived, as structures or minerals after destructive processes.

[From Middle English relicte, left undisturbed, from Latin relictus, past participle of relinquere, to leave behind; see relinquish. Sense 3, Middle English relicte, from Medieval Latin relicta, from feminine past participle of Latin relinquere.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

relict

(ˈrɛlɪkt)
n
1. (Biology) ecology
a. a group of animals or plants that exists as a remnant of a formerly widely distributed group in an environment different from that in which it originated
b. (as modifier): a relict fauna.
2. (Geological Science) geology
a. a mountain, lake, glacier, etc, that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after a destructive process has occurred
b. a mineral that remains unaltered after metamorphism of the rock in which it occurs
3. an archaic word for widow1
4. an archaic word for relic6
[C16: from Latin relictus left behind, from relinquere to relinquish]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

rel•ict

(ˈrɛl ɪkt)

n.
1. a species or community living in an environment that has changed from that which is typical for it.
2. a remnant or survivor.
3. a widow.
[1525–35; < Medieval Latin relicta widow, n. use of feminine of Latin relictus, past participle of relinquere to relinquish]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

relict

an animal or plant surviving in one area after becoming extinct else-where; a survival of an earlier period. — relict, adj.
See also: Animals
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.relict - an organism or species surviving as a remnant of an otherwise extinct flora or fauna in an environment much changed from that in which it originated
organism, being - a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently
2.relict - geological feature that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after other parts have disappeared
geological formation, formation - (geology) the geological features of the earth
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

relict

(archaic) [ˈrelɪkt] Nviuda f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
References in classic literature ?
Do thou from mansions of eternal bliss Remember thy distressed relict. Look on her with an angel's love-- Soothe her sad life and cheer her end Through this world's dangers and its griefs.
There's only one uglier word that I know of, and that's RELICT. Lord, Anne, dearie, I may be an old maid, but there's this comfort in it--I'll never be any man's `relict.'"
"Avonlea graveyard was full of old tombstones `sacred to the memory of So-and-So, RELICT of the late So-and-So.' It always made me think of something worn out and moth eaten.
Sparsit, deceased, of whom she was the relict, had been by the mother's side what Mrs.
Bardell-- the relict and sole executrix of a deceased custom-house officer--was a comely woman of bustling manners and agreeable appearance, with a natural genius for cooking, improved by study and long practice, into an exquisite talent.
'And what's the prerogative of a woman, in the name of Goodness?' cried the relict of Mr.
The report to which Blanche had referred was among the paragraphs arranged under the heading of "Fashionable News." "A matrimonial alliance" (the Glasgow journal announced) "was in prospect between the Honorable Geoffrey Delamayn and the lovely and accomplished relict of the late Mathew Glenarm, Esq., formerly Miss Newenden." The, marriage would, in all probability, "be solemnized in Scotland, before the end of the present autumn;" and the wedding breakfast, it was whispered, "would collect a large and fashionable party at Swanhaven Lodge."
Whether the deceased might not have been better off if he had emigrated in his bachelor days, was a question which his relict did not stop to consider; for Kate entered the room, with her workbox, in this stage of her reflections; and a much slighter interruption, or no interruption at all, would have diverted Mrs Nickleby's thoughts into a new channel at any time.
The room Arthur Clennam's deceased father had occupied for business purposes, when he first remembered him, was so unaltered that he might have been imagined still to keep it invisibly, as his visible relict kept her room up-stairs; Jeremiah Flintwinch still going between them negotiating.
Betimes next morning, that horrible old Lady Tippins (relict of the late Sir Thomas Tippins, knighted in mistake for somebody else by His Majesty King George the Third, who, while performing the ceremony, was graciously pleased to observe, 'What, what, what?
We didn't cook none of the pies in the wash-pan -- afraid the solder would melt; but Uncle Silas he had a noble brass warming-pan which he thought consider- able of, because it belonged to one of his ancesters with a long wooden handle that come over from Eng- land with William the Conqueror in the Mayflower or one of them early ships and was hid away up garret with a lot of other old pots and things that was valuable, not on account of being any account, be- cause they warn't, but on account of them being relicts, you know, and we snaked her out, private, and took her down there, but she failed on the first pies, because we didn't know how, but she come up smiling on the last one.