MEDIEVAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does medieval mean? 

• MEDIEVAL (adjective)
  The adjective MEDIEVAL has 3 senses:

1. relating to or belonging to the Middle Ages

2. as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened

3. characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages

  Familiarity information: MEDIEVAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MEDIEVAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or belonging to the Middle Ages

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

mediaeval; medieval

Context example:

Medieval times

Pertainym:

Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

As if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened

Synonyms:

gothic; mediaeval; medieval

Context example:

a medieval attitude toward dating

Similar:

nonmodern (not modern; of or characteristic of an earlier time)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages

Synonyms:

chivalric; knightly; medieval

Context example:

the knightly years

Similar:

past (earlier than the present time; no longer current)

 Context examples 

An overreliance on this trade may have contributed to Norse Greenland’s collapse when the medieval market declined.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

Cancer treatment still follows a practically medieval method of cut, burn or poison.

(‘Energetic Cancer Cells’ May Be Origin of Cancer Spread, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The medieval metaphysics of Kant had given him the key to nothing, and had served the sole purpose of making him doubt his own intellectual powers.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But Iceland’s most celebrated medieval poem, Vǫluspá (‘The prophecy of the seeress’) does appear to give an impression of what the eruption was like.

(Volcanic eruption influenced Iceland’s conversion to Christianity, University of Cambridge)

Walrus ivory was a valuable medieval commodity, used to carve luxury items such as ornate crucifixes or pieces for games like chess and Viking favourite hnefatafl.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

It's like a medieval cauldron forging stars.

(Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy, NASA)

The face of the creature was like the wildest gargoyle that the imagination of a mad medieval builder could have conceived.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dr. Guillermo Benítez, also of the UGR, comments: Our findings—based on our review of Pre-Columbian codices, medieval texts, and books on ethnobotany—show that, despite many of the traditional uses of these plants being similar in both countries, nowadays there are striking differences.

(Scientists examine the ethnobotanical uses of stramonium, University of Granada)

Now, researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Oslo have studied ancient DNA from offcuts of tusks and skulls, most found on the sites of former ivory workshops across Europe, in order to trace the origin of the animals used in the medieval trade.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

A team of scientists and medieval historians, led by the University of Cambridge, has used information contained within ice cores and tree rings to accurately date a massive volcanic eruption, which took place soon after the island was first settled.

(Volcanic eruption influenced Iceland’s conversion to Christianity, University of Cambridge)