Fill in the blank with the antonym, in context, of the capitalized word in the…

Concept: An antonym-in-context question asks for the word that expresses the opposite meaning of the capitalized word, in the sense that word carries within the sentence. "Ancient" describes something belonging to a very distant, early period of time; its standard opposite describes something belonging to the present or a recent period of time.

Application: In the sentence, "ANCIENT history" refers to history from the very distant past. The word needed to complete the parallel contrast is the term for history from the present or recent era. "Modern" is the standard opposite of "ancient" when describing historical periods, as in the common pairing "ancient and modern history."

Cross-check: comparing each option against this period-opposite requirement:

• "Medieval" names the historical period roughly between the 5th and 15th centuries CE - a period BETWEEN ancient and modern, not the opposite of ancient.

• "New" describes something recently created or encountered for the first time; it does not name a historical era, so it does not form the standard "ancient history" vs "____ history" period contrast.

• "Backdated" describes a document or record marked with an earlier date than when it was actually created or issued - an unrelated concept to naming historical eras.

Result: the word that correctly completes the sentence as the antonym of "ancient" is "modern".