Primitive — synonyms, definition

1. primitive (a)

aboriginal abortive abstemious amusing ancient antediluvian archaic austere autochthonous barbarous beginning domestic earliest early elementary embryonic endemic feral first former • • •

2. primitive (Adjective)

crude naive rude

primitive (Adjective) — Belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness. ex. "primitive movies of the 1890s"

primitive (Adjective) — Little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type. ex. "primitive mammals" ex. "the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe"

primitive (Adjective) — (anthropology) used of preliterate, tribal or nonindustrial societies. ex. "primitive societies"

primitive (Adjective) — (fine arts) of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style. ex. "primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colourful and striking"

3. primitive (Noun)

primitive person

primitive (Noun) — A person who belongs to an early stage of civilization.

primitive (Noun) — A mathematical expression from which another expression is derived.

primitive (Noun) — A word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms. ex. "'pick' is the primitive from which 'picket' is derived"

expression formula individual mortal person somebody someone soul word Basket Maker Heidelberg man Homo heidelbergensis Indo-European Piltdown hoax Piltdown man ape-man aryan autochthon barbarian cave dweller cave man caveman feral man missing link mound builder savage troglodyte wild man