as in ancient
relating to or occurring near the beginning of a process, series, or time period
primeval forests slowly disappearing as the climate changed
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Recent Examples of primeval
These places maintain the largest amount of intact primeval forest and the highest populations of bears, wolves and lynx in all of Europe.
—
Jamie Lang, Variety, 26 Jan. 2025
Does Dellinger’s death suggest that Utah Territory, and by extension America itself, will always be driven by primeval conflict?
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 10 Jan. 2025
Yakushima Island, located 37 miles south from the southern tip of Kyushu Island, is home to a primeval temperate rainforest with thousand-year-old cedar trees, known as yakusugi.
—Anna Mazurek, AFAR Media, 16 Dec. 2024
Goth, primeval décor is in the air, but this is an extreme case.
—Jocelyn Silver, Architectural Digest, 13 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for primeval
Jamie Lang, Variety, 26 Jan. 2025
Does Dellinger’s death suggest that Utah Territory, and by extension America itself, will always be driven by primeval conflict?
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 10 Jan. 2025
Yakushima Island, located 37 miles south from the southern tip of Kyushu Island, is home to a primeval temperate rainforest with thousand-year-old cedar trees, known as yakusugi.
—Anna Mazurek, AFAR Media, 16 Dec. 2024
Goth, primeval décor is in the air, but this is an extreme case.
—Jocelyn Silver, Architectural Digest, 13 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for primeval
Recent Examples of Synonyms for primeval
Adjective
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The museum has a world-class collection, including works by iconic artists like da Vinci, Monet, and Van Gogh, alongside ancient artifacts.—
Susmita Baral,
Travel + Leisure,
19 Apr. 2025
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Leland presented European material as the survival of an ancient pagan cult—moreover, a paganism that had been demonized by Christianity.—
Angelica Frey,
JSTOR Daily,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Houde said these mammoth animals are a primitive group of proboscideans ('elephantoids') from which modern elephants evolved.—
Joseph J. Kolb,
Fox News,
18 July 2017
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Many are primitive and remote, and don’t have restrooms or water.—
OregonLive.com,
OregonLive.com,
12 July 2017
Adjective
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For one thing, human brains appear to be wired for short term gains, a kind of primal instinct of survival that puts a premium on what could be captured today.—
Harry Kraemer,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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At their heart is some primal fear: that evil, or evil people, can control us without our even realizing it.—
Alissa Wilkinson,
New York Times,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Well, a team of scientists unearthed ancient footprints that offer insight into how various prehistoric animals lived as far back as 50 million years.—
Jonathan Limehouse,
USA Today,
20 Apr. 2025
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Before boarding the barge in Inverness, travelers can visit Culloden Moor, the scene of the famous 1746 battle, a pivotal moment in Outlander and Clava Cairns, the burial site of a prehistoric clan chieftain, widely believed to have inspired the standing stones of Craigh na Dun in the series.—
Emese Maczko,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The company’s project involved recovering DNA of the extinct dire wolf from a fossil tooth found in Idaho and an ear bone in Ohio, parts of the animal’s primordial habitat, but the key was its editing of a donor genome of the gray wolf to alter 14 of its genes.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Apr. 2025
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Her analysis of dreams taps into a primordial function that night visions played in human society long before Freud showed up.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
23 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Tiger, who played college football at Princeton, was one of the 14 victims killed in the early hours of New Year's Day on Bourbon Street.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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As German immigrants came to the U.S., pretzels became a staple here in the early 1700s.—
Mike Snider,
USA Today,
26 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Primeval.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/primeval. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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