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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-mey-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

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

Action for Primates, a UK-based advocacy project, assisted police in the investigation.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 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 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

The charity fears the abandonment could be the first of many following legislation introduced in April which requires all primates kept as pets in England to be licensed.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

The results were especially encouraging in nonhuman primates, whose liver biology and gut microbiota more closely resemble those of humans.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

In both mice and nonhuman primates, DT-109 reduced Clostridium perfringens levels and lowered ammonia production in the intestines.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Humans are social primates, and our perceptions of what’s normal or desirable are shaped by those around us.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

More important, a specific part of the brain of humans and other primates — the region known as the neocortex, which deals with complex thought and reasoning — is huge by mammal standards.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell