preatomic

[pree-uh-tom-ik]

adjective

of or relating to the period of history preceding the atomic age.

Origin of preatomic

First recorded in 1910–15; pre- + atomic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pre-atomic

Historical Examples of pre-atomic

They were like the wolf of pre-atomic days who huffed and puffed to blow the house down.
Acid Bath
Vaseleos Garson
Well, as a race, so did we until only a few centuries pre-atomic.
Oomphel in the Sky
Henry Beam Piper
But Lenin was a pre-atomic man, who viewed society and history with pre-atomic eyes.
State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
There was an ancient word, originating in one of the lost languages of Pre-Atomic Terra—sixtifor.
A Slave is a Slave
Henry Beam Piper

Word Origin and History for pre-atomic

adj.

"before the atomic age," 1914, in "World Set Free" -- H.G. Wells anticipating the word the future would use to look back at a time defined by events that hadn't yet happened in his day; from pre- + atomic.