primeval
/prʌɪˈmiːv(ə)l
/(also primaeval)
adjective
1Of the earliest time in history: mile after mile of primeval forest...
- This is life in a swamp, a primeval wet forest from which the great diversity of Australia's modern fauna sprung.
- The natural, primeval clock is the sun, by whose light we see to perform our daily tasks.
- Genesis 12 marks a shift from primeval history to the stories of the patriarchs.
Synonyms
ancient, earliest, first, prehistoric, antediluvian, antique, primordial, primitive, primal;
pristine, original, untouched by humans;
aboriginal, indigenous
rare autochthonous, autochthonic, primigenial
1.1(Of emotion or behaviour) strongly instinctive and unreasoning: a primeval desire...
- Getting up in the mornings becomes more difficult, going home in the evenings seems to provoke a primeval instinct for slumping in front of the television or crawling under the duvet.
- Roger Deakin, whose aquatic voyage round Britain is charted in his book, Waterlog, believes the roots of our deep affinity with water are primeval.
- This is a very primeval shame, deeply seated in man's psyche.
Synonyms
instinctive, primitive, basic, primal, primordial, intuitive, intuitional, involuntary, inborn, innate, inherent, inbred, natural, congenital, hereditary, inherited, in the blood, ingrained
Derivatives
primevally
- I'm not a fisherperson by nature, but there's something primevally attractive about fishing in the summer.
- We got out and pushed till we came to a house, another bungalow, that was at once shockingly new and primevally squalid.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin primaevus (from primus 'first' + aevum 'age') + -al.