The phrase "ancient sense" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a meaning or understanding that originates from a long time ago or is rooted in historical context.
Example: "In the ancient sense, the word 'wisdom' encompassed not just knowledge, but also the ability to apply it for the greater good."
Alternatives: "historical meaning" or "archaic understanding".
I fought off the ancient sense of not belonging, here or anywhere.
"This is all part of anthropology in the ancient sense," he said.
Stravinsky used the word "symphonies" in the title in the ancient sense of the word, meaning sonorities that sound together.
But when I am alone with myself, I haven't the courage to consider myself an artist in the ancient sense of the word.
Read aloud, this modern myth connects us with the ancient sense of mystery and complicity that families reciting poetry together have shared since long before the birth of Christ or the invention of Santa Claus.
As the Guardian's editorial remarks, UK public opinion is now supportive of the right to gay marriage – not just civil partnership, but marriage in the ancient sense of the word – "a principled happiness-creating reform", the paper calls it.
The word hero has long since lost the ancients' sense of ambiguity, but the art retains it.
It is only fair to add that the ancient Egyptians' sense of fun could sometimes be turned on the sacred symbols of their own religion.
The potter's art, as I said earlier, is intricately interwoven with the ancient human sense of originating in earth and returning to that first state.
But he bore a melancholy regard for lost worlds, for the primacy of the written word, for "the ancient American sense that whatever is wrong with human society can be put right by human action".
The 62% popular support which Vladimir Putin enjoys according to the Levada Centre reflects not only that ancient geographical sense of insecurity Russians feel; not just the unshakeable love Russians feel for their country.
