primitive
pri muh tiv
- n a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
- n a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
- n a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms
`pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived - s belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness
primitive movies of the 1890s
primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains - s little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
primitive mammals
the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe - s used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies
primitive societies - s of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style
primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking
- The humbling message of a good piece of primitive art is that some long-ago savage possessed sensibilities and skills that a modern artist, making art instead of magic, can top .
- By 1920, the automotive was no longer a primitive experiment.
- This sort of thing may have happened on the primitive earth, where lightning was probably common.