primal
[prahy-muh l]
- first; original; primeval: primal eras before the appearance of life on earth.
- of first importance; fundamental: the primal resources of a nation.
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Origin of primal
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
primordialaboriginalancientcentralchiefearliestearlyfirstfundamentalhighestoldoriginalparamountpastprehistoricprimitiveprincipalpristineExamples from the Web for primal
Contemporary Examples
And to this day, liberals in the political world use the name “Willie Horton” to describe an appeal to primal racial fears.
I wanted to fill her with pain and primal rage, which was really fun for me.
Juliette Lewis on Hollywood, Why the MSM Hates Scientology, and Masturbating to George ClooneyMarlow Stern
September 19, 2014
Because primal violence is justified by religious belief, “the offenders have no remorse, no fear, and are extremely confident.”
Why ISIS Keeps Running Circles Around Us, Just Like Al Qaeda Did Before 9/11Christopher Dickey
September 11, 2014
One is on African primal religions, another on the tao of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, another on the path to total rejuvenation.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the BayouJohn Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
Meeting the Clintons, added Steve Rosinski, an actor in Las Vegas, was “primal.”
Historical Examples
The primal impulse of vice and sin is a short cut to happiness.
The Call of the Twentieth CenturyDavid Starr Jordan
She trusted all the primal instincts without knowing she trusted them.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
And that must mean that Laotsze was that very same Yellow Ancient of primal days.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
We see, then, that the primal ground of inferiority in these pleasures 5.
Modern Painters Volume II (of V)John Ruskin
The primal laws do not take into account our ideas of respectability.
Sex=The Unknown QuantityAli Nomad
primal
- first or original
- chief or most important
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Word Origin
C17: from Medieval Latin prīmālis, from Latin prīmus first
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for primal
adj.
c.1600, "belonging to the earliest age," from Medieval Latin primalis "primary," from Latin primus "first" (see prime (adj.)). Psychological sense, in reference to Freud's theory of behaviors springing from the earliest stage of emotional development, is attested from 1918. Primal scream is from a best-selling book of 1971.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
primal
(prī′məl)- Being first in time; original.
- Of first or central importance; primary.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.