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• Primates
  Primates

  noun

  the order comprising the primates.
• primates
  primates

  The order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and human beings. Primates are distinguished from other animals in that they generally possess limbs capable of performing a variety of functions, hands and feet adapted for grasping (including opposable thumbs), flattened snouts, and other anatomical features. (See Linnean classification.)

Primates

American  

[prahy-may-teez] / praɪˈmeɪ tiz /

noun

1. the order comprising the primates.

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primates Cultural  

1. The order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and human beings. Primates are distinguished from other animals in that they generally possess limbs capable of performing a variety of functions, hands and feet adapted for grasping (including opposable thumbs), flattened snouts, and other anatomical features. (See Linnean classification.)

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Etymology

Origin of Primates

1765–75; < New Latin, plural of Latin prīmās one of the first, chief, principal. See primate

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Primates primates

Primates were already around by the time the asteroid struck, in a Northern Hemisphere spring 66 million years ago.

From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2024

Given up for adoption, Rachel eventually found herself at New York University’s Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, where she stayed for more than 15 years.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2024

"Primates have particular welfare needs that cannot be met by keeping them as a household pet and this legislation seeks to end this practice."

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2024

Primates aren’t the only exotic animals popular here.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2024

The C.D.C. also temporarily revoked the licenses of three companies, Hazleton Research Products, the Charles River Primates Corporation, and Worldwide Primates, charging these companies with violations of quarantine rules.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

An independent study involving primates found that blocking OXER1 weakened the immune cell response but also caused protective mucus-producing cells in the airways to disappear.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026

While AI can generate candidate molecules and assist in trial design, it cannot test drugs on non-human primates or accelerate the biological timeline required for human observation.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

But here’s your daily reminder that humans are primates whose still-evolving brains are exponentially outpaced by technological advancement.

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026

That the orangutan's original habitats had been burned and fragmented to the point they could no longer sustain the primates was the main driving factor behind relocating them, Yiara said.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

One general theory for the origin of aids goes at, during the late nineteen-sixties, a new and crative business grew up in Africa, the export of primates to industrialized countries for use in medical research.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

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