primitive
When we talk about “primitive man“, we’re usually talking about cavemen and other people who existed before the advent of table manners, but if your uncle speaks grunts and chews with his mouth open, you could describe him as primitive too.
Primitive is related to the word prime, and the root of both words is primus, which is Latin for “first.” Since the phrase “primitive man” refers to the world’s first people, you might think that the word primate has something to do with the similarity between early humans and monkeys, but it doesn’t. Monkey, apes, and humans are called primates because they’re seen as standing on the first, or highest, rung of the animal-kingdom ladder.
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little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
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used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies
“primitive societies”-
Synonyms:
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noncivilised, noncivilized
not having a high state of culture and social development
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noncivilised, noncivilized
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a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
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synonyms:
primitive person-
examples:
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Odovacar
Germanic barbarian leader who ended the Western Roman Empire in 476 and became the first barbarian ruler of Italy (434-493)
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types:
- show 16 types…
- hide 16 types…
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Aryan, Indo-European
a member of the prehistoric people who spoke Proto-Indo European
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autochthon
the earliest known inhabitants of a region
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Basket Maker
early Amerindians related to the Pueblo; known for skill in making baskets
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cave dweller, cave man, caveman, troglodyte
someone who lives in a cave
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Heidelberg man, Homo heidelbergensis
a type of primitive man who lived in Europe
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ape-man, missing link
hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings
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Mound Builder
prehistoric Amerindians who built altar mounds
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Piltdown hoax, Piltdown man
a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoax
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barbarian, savage
a member of an uncivilized people
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feral man, wild man
a person who is not socialized
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ape-man
a person assumed to have been raised by apes
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anthropophagite, anthropophagus, cannibal, man-eater
a person who eats human flesh
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head-shrinker, headhunter
a savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies
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hunter-gatherer
a member of a hunting and gathering society
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Vandal
a member of the Germanic people who overran Gaul and Spain and North Africa and sacked Rome in 455
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wolf boy
a male person assumed to have been raised by wolves
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Odovacar
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belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness
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of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style
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a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
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type of:
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expression, formula
a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement
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expression, formula
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a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms
“`pick’ is the
primitive from which `picket’ is derived”-
type of:
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word
a unit of language that native speakers can identify
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word