Adjacent Words

Primal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRI'MAL, a. [See Prime.] First. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: serving as an essential component; "a cardinal rule"; "the central cause of the problem"; "an example that was fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure" [syn: cardinal, central, fundamental, key, primal]
2: having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state; "aboriginal forests"; "primal eras before the appearance of life on earth"; "the forest primeval"; "primordial matter"; "primordial forms of life" [syn: aboriginal, primal, primeval, primaeval, primordial]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Medieval Latin primalis, from Latin primus first — more at prime Date: 1602 1. original, primitive <village life continued in its primal innocence — Van Wyck Brooks> 2. first in importance ; primary

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 primitive, primeval. 2 chief, fundamental. Derivatives: primally adv. Etymology: med.L primalis f. L primus first

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Primal Pri"mal, a. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.] First; primary; original; chief. It hath the primal eldest curse upon it. --Shak. The primal duties shine aloft like stars. --Wordsworth.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Primal is used to describe something that relates to the origins of things or that is very basic. (FORMAL) Jealousy is a primal emotion. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. First, original.

Moby Thesaurus

ab ovo, abecedarian, aboriginal, antenatal, arch, atavistic, austere, autochthonous, banner, bare, basal, basic, basilar, beginning, bodily, born, budding, capital, cardinal, central, champion, chaste, chief, coeval, congenital, connatal, connate, connatural, constituent, constitutional, constitutive, creative, crowning, crucial, dominant, elemental, elementary, embryonic, essential, fetal, first, focal, foremost, formative, foundational, fundamental, generative, genetic, germinal, gestatory, great, gut, headmost, hegemonic, hereditary, homely, homespun, homogeneous, in embryo, in its infancy, in ovo, in the blood, in the bud, inaugural, inborn, inbred, incarnate, inceptive, inchoate, inchoative, incipient, incunabular, indigenous, indivisible, infant, infantile, inherited, initial, initiative, initiatory, innate, instinctive, instinctual, introductory, inventive, irreducible, leading, magisterial, main, master, material, mere, monolithic, nascent, natal, native, native to, natural, natural to, of a piece, of the essence, organic, original, overruling, paramount, parturient, physical, plain, postnatal, predominant, preeminent, pregnant, prenatal, preponderant, prevailing, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, primordial, principal, pristine, procreative, protogenic, pure, pure and simple, radical, ranking, rudimental, rudimentary, ruling, seminal, severe, simon-pure, simple, single, sovereign, spare, star, stark, stellar, substantial, substantive, supereminent, temperamental, topflight, unadorned, uncluttered, underlying, undifferenced, undifferentiated, uniform, ur