as in ancient
dating or surviving from the distant past
hoary oak trees with dripping moss and gnarled limbs shaded us from the sun
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of hoary
And Williams is a hoary veteran next to his squad-mate Lamine Yamal, who has yet to turn seventeen.
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Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024
Admittedly, there was less hoary public invocation of the doctrine, but attendance at the periodic summits remained de rigeur for the prime minister.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2016
This revival, despite some big rewrites by Harvey Fierstein, is still stuck around the sort of romantic cliches and hoary old body-image issues that most Broadway musicals strenuously avoid these days.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 20 June 2024
The band shares hoary tales of substance abuse, desperate getaways and awkward crushes.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 19 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoary 
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024
Admittedly, there was less hoary public invocation of the doctrine, but attendance at the periodic summits remained de rigeur for the prime minister.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2016
This revival, despite some big rewrites by Harvey Fierstein, is still stuck around the sort of romantic cliches and hoary old body-image issues that most Broadway musicals strenuously avoid these days.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 20 June 2024
The band shares hoary tales of substance abuse, desperate getaways and awkward crushes.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 19 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoary
Adjective
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Last year, an ancient, still-active volcano was found off the Canadian coast, covered in millions of giant eggs laid by Pacific white skates (a hauntingly beautiful cartilaginous fish that looks like a stingray).Scott Travers, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024
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The area buzzes with shops, restaurants, and landmarks such as the Mayan Museum of Cancun, with exhibitions showcasing ancient Mayan history and art and the adjacent San Miguelito Archeological Site of Mayan ruins.Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 13 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The first was at my hotel, the Four Seasons Hong Kong, renovated during the pandemic to retain its status as a venerable local institution.Baz Dreisinger, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024
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The thrilling fight sequences featuring some of the most venerable action stars in the biz?EW Staff, EW.com, 6 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The show skips across the decades, dramatizing the interviews an older Dolours (Maxine Peake) did for a Boston College oral history of the Troubles, which were taped with the promise that they would be released only after participants’ deaths.Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
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By contrast, the prospect of citizenships and alliances—and perhaps conquests or crusades—structured around the opinions, beliefs, and subjective identities of ordinary people in times of peace would require a new (or very old) conception of empire.Henry A. Kissinger, Foreign Affairs, 18 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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For months, Bode sourced vintage and antique ornaments, including bulbs, plastic candies, and wooden miniatures such as instruments, birds, and a sleigh.Elise Taylor, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2024
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The bones of knackered cattle in the glue that held his antique books together.Daisy Hildyard, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The beautiful city of Maastricht in the Netherlands is always a delight to visit for its medieval architecture and its vibrant cultural scene, which includes FashionClash, an annual festival every November that’s a brilliant mashup of fashion, art, film and performance.Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024
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The other new study, in Nature, relied on an analysis of six genomes from remains discovered in Ranis, a cave site in present-day Germany that sits below a medieval castle.Evan Bush, NBC News, 12 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Hoary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoary. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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