How to Use primeval in a Sentence

primeval

adjective
  • In the Rainbow Rain is kind of a primeval album, in a way.
    Morgan Enos, Billboard, 16 Apr. 2018
  • Millions of years ago, primeval plants drew energy from the sun to grow.
    Rhett Allain, Wired, 10 Mar. 2020
  • High in the misty mountains of Honduras, the world looks primeval, with glistening pine trees draped in moss and leafy bromeliads.
    Jonathan Kolby, National Geographic, 7 Apr. 2016
  • Yet at the heart of the story, as of Mary’s biography, were primeval sadnesses and fears.
    The Economist, 17 Feb. 2018
  • Titanoboa wasn't the only primeval serpent that once wriggled its way across the planet.
    Alex Orlando, Discover Magazine, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Shorter hikes penetrate the primeval rocky outcrops of Giant City and Garden of the Gods.
    Joe Yogerst, CNN, 4 Sep. 2022
  • No one is certain about what would happen in a matchup, but most likely neither of the two primeval forces could take the stuffing out of the other.
    Jim Nash, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2017
  • To recreate these primeval conditions, the RHIC fires gold atoms at one another at nearly the speed of light.
    NBC News, 12 June 2017
  • My wife, Flora, has become inured to the novelty of a beach littered with primeval relics.
    David Shaftel, New York Times, 23 May 2018
  • Each explosion was preceded by a primeval gurgle that gave way to bursts of lava.
    David Amsden, Travel + Leisure, 19 Aug. 2023
  • Beneath its artificial shine lies dark, primeval swampland; a gulf divides the seen from the unseen.
    The Economist, 21 June 2018
  • Some of these vital-to-life substances also have primeval inceptions.
    Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2024
  • The fossils and antlers, the Indian artifacts, and the maps represented the primeval American world and the white man's first attempts to project his power over the land.
    Jon Meacham, House Beautiful, 1 Oct. 2013
  • Then one day 66 million years ago this primeval tableau—of dinosaurs thundering across the land and mammals scampering in the shadows—ended in chaos.
    Steve Brusatte, Scientific American, 1 June 2022
  • Surely some primeval part of our brain is instinctively attuned to the inspirational allure of the night sky.
    Alan Hirshfeld, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2018
  • In Mesoamerican myth, the ancient monster Cipactli, part crocodilian, part fish or toad, floats in primeval waters, like the Hindu snake of residue, Sheshanaga.
    Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Thus the primeval power of sudden darkness in the daytime could lead to some future hit tunes, action film sequences or fantasy novels.
    Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 31 Mar. 2024
  • The forests of the eastern United States are another puzzle: European settlers cut down 95 percent of the primeval woods, yet only four species of bird have gone extinct.
    John Fleischman, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
  • Monsters and prehistoric creatures appear as symbols of rebirth, of primeval force.
    Lauren Elkin, Travel + Leisure, 21 Mar. 2023
  • Salopek tells me that he’s noticed something almost primeval about entering a community that is not your own by foot.
    Sebastian Modak, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Apr. 2023
  • The locations used, according to the press notes, were ancient old growth forests in the Landes de Gascogne National Park, whose primeval ecology perfectly suits the story.
    Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 May 2023
  • If spectacle is part of your courtship plan, J-Prime is the ticket, with a posh lounge, strong cocktails and a tomahawk rib-eye with a long bone like the bleached handle of a primeval war club, a showcase of prime beef with a lush, fatty aura.
    Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Dec. 2021
  • The problem is structural: the root of tribalism is human nature, and the current state of American democracy is distinctly primeval.
    The Economist, 24 May 2018
  • Blood Meridian and Stella Maris in particular enjoin it with the primeval, timeless forces that precede our own human origins.
    Caine O'Rear, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2023
  • Ancient history About 3,000 years ago, primeval lawmakers on the seafaring island of Rhodes faced a conundrum.
    Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 31 Mar. 2024
  • Hundreds of people in Los Angeles disappear into a strange, primeval land when a sinkhole gobbles up several city blocks.
    cleveland, 14 Sep. 2021
  • The team explores whether the primeval microbes that built elaborate rock formations in an extensive cave system could be used for medical purposes.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 3 Apr. 2024
  • There are rock formations formed millions of years ago by contracting lava, primeval cedar forests that feel like a Tolkien fantasy, and sloping fields of technicolor flowers.
    Amy Thomas, Travel + Leisure, 10 Apr. 2023
  • This primeval realm is populated by a group of outcasts, led by a warrior, Conall (Chiwetel Ejiofor), sympathetic to the newcomer's antipathy for the nasty queen.
    Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Oct. 2019
  • Huddling around a campfire and eating gooey marshmallows and warm chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers may feel like primeval traditions.
    Jeffrey Miller, Smithsonian, 29 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'primeval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: