prehistoric
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to the time or a period prior to recorded history.
The dinosaur is a prehistoric beast.
-
Slang. outdated; passé.
My mom has these prehistoric ideas about proper dress.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prehistoric
Explanation
If while hiking, you see strange painting on a cliff, it may be rock art from prehistoric times, meaning something from the time before history was recorded. When you break down the word prehistoric, it’s easy to figure out what it means. The prefix pre-, means “before” and historic relates to something from a past culture. Put the two together, and you get prehistoric, a word that describes something that comes from a time before history was recorded. For example, Stonehenge is a prehistoric site, or the woolly mammoth is a prehistoric beast.
Vocabulary lists containing prehistoric
World Without Fish
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Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science: Geology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Prehistoric burial mounds, monoliths and ceremonial sites had long inspired wonder.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
Prehistoric wolf pup’s last meal sheds light on wooly rhino.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 16, 2026
Prehistoric elephants, saber-toothed cats, jaguars, llamas, peccaries, deer, skunks and bears streamed from North America to South.
From Science Daily • May 28, 2024
Before working with the team behind Apple TV's Prehistoric Planet, the artist was brainstorming ideas about how to use prehistoric influences to create art.
From BBC • May 21, 2023
Can you imagine one hundred million yearsI Werner says, “Where I’m from, they dug up trees. Prehistoric ones.”
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
