| / English Dictionary |
PRIMITIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms
Example:
'pick' is the primitive from which 'picket' is derived
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):
word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):
expression; formula (a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
Synonyms:
primitive; primitive person
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "primitive"):
Aryan; Indo-European (a member of the prehistoric people who spoke Proto-Indo European)
autochthon (the earliest known inhabitants of a region)
Basket Maker (early Amerindians related to the Pueblo; known for skill in making baskets)
cave dweller; cave man; caveman; troglodyte (someone who lives in a cave)
Heidelberg man; Homo heidelbergensis (a type of primitive man who lived in Europe)
ape-man; missing link (hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings)
Mound Builder (prehistoric Amerindians who built altar mounds)
Piltdown hoax; Piltdown man (a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoax)
barbarian; savage (a member of an uncivilized people)
feral man; wild man (a person who is not socialized)
Derivation:
primitive (used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies)
primitive (little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies
Example:
primitive societies
Classified under:
Similar:
noncivilised; noncivilized (not having a high state of culture and social development)
Domain category:
anthropology (the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings)
Derivation:
primitive (a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization)
primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
Example:
the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe
Synonyms:
archaic; primitive
Classified under:
Similar:
early (being or occurring at an early stage of development)
Derivation:
primitive (a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization)
primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness
Example:
primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
early (being or occurring at an early stage of development)
Derivation:
primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style
Example:
primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking
Synonyms:
naive; primitive
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
untrained (not disciplined or conditioned or made adept by training)
Domain category:
beaux arts; fine arts (the study and creation of visual works of art)
Context examples:
A primitive, undifferentiated blood cell which can undergo division and will give rise to a cell in the basophil lineage.
(Bone Marrow Stem Cell Committed to the Basophil Lineage, NCI Thesaurus)
A primitive undifferentiated cell which can undergo division and can give rise to one of the early megakaryocytes.
(Bone Marrow Stem Cell Committed to the Megakaryocytic Lineage, NCI Thesaurus)
A morphologic variant of fetal rhabdomyoma characterized by the presence of a prominent myxoid stroma and primitive skeletal spindle cells.
(Classic Rhabdomyoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor arising from the cerebral hemispheres.
(Cerebral Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)
A clonal (malignant) proliferation of myeloid cells originating from a primitive stem cell.
(Myeloid Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)
A usually malignant neoplasm composed of primitive (immature) tissues that resemble fetal tissues.
(Embryonal Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)
Also called central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor.
(CNS PNET, NCI Dictionary)
Medulloblastomas are a type of primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET).
(Medulloblastoma, NCI Dictionary)
But the club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more fundamental and primitive code.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
At least one of the germ cell components is primitive.
(Ovarian Mixed Germ Cell Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)
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