Adjacent Words

Primeval definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRIME'VAL, a. [L. primus, first, and oevum, age, primoevus.]
Original; primitive; as the primeval innocence of man; primeval day.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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: Latin primaevus, from primus first + aevum age — more at aye Date: 1662 1. of or relating to the earliest ages (as of the world or human history) ; ancient, primitive <100 acres of primeval forest which has never felt an ax — Mary R. Zimmer> 2. primordial 1b • primevally adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (also primaeval) 1 of or relating to the first age of the world. 2 ancient, primitive. Derivatives: primevally adv. Etymology: L primaevus f. primus first + aevum age

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Primeval Pri*me"val, a. [L. primaevus; primus first + aevum age. See Prime, a., and Age.] Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original; primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man. ``This is the forest primeval.'' --Longfellow. From chaos, and primeval darkness, came Light. --Keats.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Note: in BRIT, also use 'primaeval' 1. You use primeval to describe things that belong to a very early period in the history of the world. (FORMAL) ...the dense primeval forests that once covered inland Brittany. = primordial ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. You use primeval to describe feelings and emotions that are basic and not the result of thought. ...a primeval urge to hit out at that which causes him pain. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Original, primitive, primordial, pristine.

Moby Thesaurus

abecedarian, aboriginal, ancestral, ancient, antenatal, antepatriarchal, atavistic, autochthonous, basal, basic, beginning, budding, central, creative, crucial, early, elemental, elementary, embryonic, erstwhile, fetal, fore, formative, former, foundational, fundamental, generative, genetic, germinal, gestatory, humanoid, immemorial, in embryo, in its infancy, in ovo, in the bud, inaugural, inceptive, inchoate, inchoative, incipient, incunabular, infant, infantile, initial, initiative, initiatory, introductory, inventive, late, nascent, natal, old, olden, once, onetime, original, parturient, past, patriarchal, postnatal, preadamite, preglacial, pregnant, prehistoric, prehuman, prenatal, previous, primal, primary, prime, primitive, primogenial, primoprimitive, primordial, prior, pristine, procreative, protogenic, protohistoric, protohuman, quondam, radical, recent, rudimental, rudimentary, seminal, sometime, then, ur