pri·mor·di·al

(prī-môr′dē-əl)

adj.

1. Being or happening first in sequence of time; original.

2. Primary or fundamental: play a primordial role.

3. Biology Belonging to or characteristic of the earliest stage of development of an organism or a part: primordial cells.

A basic principle.

[Middle English, from Late Latin prīmōrdiālis, from Latin prīmōrdium, origin : prīmus, first; see per in Indo-European roots + ōrdīrī, to begin to weave; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

pri·mor′di·al·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

primordial

(praɪˈmɔːdɪəl)

adj

1. existing at or from the beginning; earliest; primeval

2. constituting an origin; fundamental

3. (Biology) biology of or relating to an early stage of development: primordial germ cells.

an elementary or basic principle

[C14: from Late Latin prīmōrdiālis original, from Latin prīmus first + ōrdīrī to begin]

priˌmordiˈality n

priˈmordially adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pri•mor•di•al

(praɪˈmɔr di əl)

adj.

1. constituting the earliest stages; original: primordial forms of life.

2. existing at or from the very beginning: primordial matter.

[1350–1400; < Late Latin prīmōrdiālis. See primordium, -al¹]

pri•mor′di•al•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

primordial - 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"

primaeval, primeval, primal, aboriginal

early - at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time; "early morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death"; "took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties"

primordial

adjective

1. primeval, primitive, first, earliest, pristine, primal, prehistoric Twenty million years ago this was dense primordial forest.

2. fundamental, original, basic, radical, elemental primordial particles generated by the Big Bang

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

primordial

adjective

Preceding all others in time:

earliest, first, initial, maiden, original, pioneer, primary, prime.

Translations

primordial

primordial

[praɪˈmɔːdɪəl] ADJ → primordial

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

primordial

[praɪˈmɔː^rdiəl] adj (= primeval) → primordial(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

primordial

adj → primordial (spec), → ursprünglich; primordial slime → Urschleim m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

primordial

[praɪˈmɔːdɪəl] adj → primordiale

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

To the question why we do not find records of these vast primordial periods, I can give no satisfactory answer.

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In the first he put those who did not take an active part in the affairs of the lodges or in human affairs, but were exclusively occupied with the mystical science of the order: with questions of the threefold designation of God, the three primordial elements- sulphur, mercury, and salt- or the meaning of the square and all the various figures of the temple of Solomon.

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Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself.

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The black, whipping out his knife, turned to do battle with this new enemy, while the Swede, lying in the bush, witnessed a duel, the like of which he had never dreamed to see--a half-naked white man battling with a half-naked black, hand to hand with the crude weapons of primeval man at first, and then with hands and teeth like the primordial brutes from whose loins their forebears sprung.

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It represented strength, that body of my father's, strength without beauty; ferocious, primordial strength, made to clutch and gripe and rend and destroy.

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Here were coarseness and brutishness--a thing savage, primordial, ferocious.

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Let us only admit the insufficiency of the primordial attraction; and then by the inequality of the two motions of rotation and revolution, the days and nights could have succeeded each other on the moon as they succeed each other on the earth.

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The constant battle of wits and senses against the many deadly foes that lurked by day and by night along the pathway of the wary and the unwary appealed to the spirit of adventure which breathes strong in the heart of every red-blooded son of primordial Adam.

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Squatting upon his haunches on the table top in the cabin his father had built--his smooth, brown, naked little body bent over the book which rested in his strong slender hands, and his great shock of long, black hair falling about his well- shaped head and bright, intelligent eyes--Tarzan of the apes, little primitive man, presented a picture filled, at once, with pathos and with promise--an allegorical figure of the primordial groping through the black night of ignorance toward the light of learning.

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I forgot that he was a vicious, primordial wolf-thing--a man-eater, a scourge, and a terror.

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For an instant he seemed to grasp the whole of a true explanation, and then, just as success was within his grasp, the picture faded into a jungle scene where a naked, white youth danced in company with a band of hairy, primordial ape-things.

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Once, twice, three times the heavy stick fell with lightning rapidity, and each blow aided in the transition of the ape-man back to the primordial.

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