primal

[prahy-muh l]

See more synonyms for primal on Thesaurus.com

adjective

first; original; primeval: primal eras before the appearance of life on earth.
of first importance; fundamental: the primal resources of a nation.

Origin of primal

From the Medieval Latin word prīmālis, dating back to 1535–45. See prime, -al¹

Related formsnon·pri·mal, adjective

Can be confusedprimal primeval primordial

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

Related Words for primal

primordial, aboriginal, ancient, central, chief, earliest, early, first, fundamental, highest, old, original, paramount, past, prehistoric, primitive, principal, pristine

Examples from the Web for primal

Contemporary Examples of primal

And to this day, liberals in the political world use the name “Willie Horton” to describe an appeal to primal racial fears.
Want President Hillary? Then Primary Her
Jeff Greenfield
November 24, 2014
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 Clooney
Marlow 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 9/11
Christopher 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 Bayou
John Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
Meeting the Clintons, added Steve Rosinski, an actor in Las Vegas, was “primal.”
Inside the World of Hillary Superfans
David Freedlander
April 23, 2014

Historical Examples of primal

The primal impulse of vice and sin is a short cut to happiness.
The Call of the Twentieth Century
David Starr Jordan
She trusted all the primal instincts without knowing she trusted them.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
And that must mean that Laotsze was that very same Yellow Ancient of primal days.
The Chinese Fairy Book
Various
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 Quantity
Ali Nomad

British Dictionary definitions for primal

primal

adjective

first or original
chief or most important

Word Origin for primal

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

primal in Medicine

primal

[prī′məl]

adj.

Being first in time; original.
Of first or central importance; primary.

Related formspri•mal′i•ty (-măl′ĭ-tē) n.