cave man


noun
  1. a cave dweller, especially of the Stone Age.

  2. a man who behaves in a rough, primitive manner, especially toward women.

Origin of cave man

1
First recorded in 1860–65

Words Nearby cave man

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cave man in a sentence

  • So positive was she that the cave-man had died beneath arrow and club, that she did not dream she had been on the verge of rescue.

    Warrior of the Dawn | Howard Carleton Browne
  • The cave-man was quick to sense the other's mental suffering as he recounted a painful chapter of his life.

    Warrior of the Dawn | Howard Carleton Browne
  • Some of those present had heard details of the cave-man's capture—details that had lost nothing in the telling.

    Warrior of the Dawn | Howard Carleton Browne
  • At one moment I have doubted your love for me; at the next, I have resolved to follow you, play cave man, and carry you off.

    Glory of Youth | Temple Bailey
  • There to-day exist men in every stage of the supposed progress from the cave man to the highest in civilization.

    The Other Side of Evolution | Alexander Patterson

British Dictionary definitions for caveman

caveman

/ (ˈkeɪvˌmæn) /


nounplural -men
  1. a man of the Palaeolithic age; cave dweller

  2. informal, facetious a man who is primitive or brutal in behaviour, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012