old, ancient, venerable, antique, antiquated, archaic, obsolete mean having come into existence or use in the more or less distant past. old may apply to either actual or merely relative length of existence.

That's an old joke - I've heard it about a thousand times. I think this cheese is old, judging by the smell of it.

Old is the most general term: old lace; an old saying. Ancient pertains to the distant past: "the hills, / Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun" (William Cullen Bryant).

You use old to refer to something that is no longer used, that no longer exists, or that has been replaced by something else. The old road had disappeared under grass and heather.