classic

classic, classical

1. Classical is the customary word when reference is to the arts and literature of ancient Greece and Rome (a classical scholar / classical Greek / architecture of classical proportions), to traditional forms of dance (classical ballet), and to serious or conventional music, i.e. that of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, etc. (although it applies more strictly to the 18th century, after the Baroque period and before the age of Romanticism). Classical has come to be widely used in marketing circles to denote anything made in a supposedly traditional style:

• Classical designs of branded clothing are on show —Shanghai Star, 2003.

2. Classic means ‘of acknowledged excellence’ (the classic textbook on the subject) or ‘remarkably typical’ (a classic example of money wasting) and in some uses combines the two

• (Chefs learn the classic sauces in their first years of training —Times, 2004).

In general use, it has come to mean little more than ‘significant, or noteworthy’:

• Most home workers are women…a classic case of powerless employees —Guardian, 1973

• It was never classic snooker but at least it kept the sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats —York Evening Press, 2003.

The Classic races in Britain are the five main flat races, namely the Two Thousand and the One Thousand Guineas, the Derby, the Oaks, and the St Leger.