PRIMITIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does primitive mean? 

• PRIMITIVE (noun)
  The noun PRIMITIVE has 3 senses:

1. a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization

2. a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived

3. a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms

  Familiarity information: PRIMITIVE used as a noun is uncommon.

• PRIMITIVE (adjective)
  The adjective PRIMITIVE has 4 senses:

1. belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness

2. little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type

3. used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies

4. of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style

  Familiarity information: PRIMITIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIMITIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who belongs to an early stage of civilization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

primitive; primitive person

Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "primitive"):

Aryan; Indo-European (a member of the prehistoric people who spoke Proto-Indo European)

autochthon (the earliest known inhabitants of a region)

Basket Maker (early Amerindians related to the Pueblo; known for skill in making baskets)

cave dweller; cave man; caveman; troglodyte (someone who lives in a cave)

Heidelberg man; Homo heidelbergensis (a type of primitive man who lived in Europe)

ape-man; missing link (hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings)

Mound Builder (prehistoric Amerindians who built altar mounds)

Piltdown hoax; Piltdown man (a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoax)

barbarian; savage (a member of an uncivilized people)

feral man; wild man (a person who is not socialized)

Derivation:

primitive (used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies)

primitive (little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mathematical expression from which another expression is derived

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):

expression; formula (a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

'pick' is the primitive from which 'picket' is derived

Hypernyms ("primitive" is a kind of...):

word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)

• PRIMITIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness

Synonyms:

crude; primitive; rude

Context example:

primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains

Similar:

early (being or occurring at an early stage of development)

Derivation:

primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type

Synonyms:

archaic; primitive

Context example:

the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe

Similar:

early (being or occurring at an early stage of development)

Derivation:

primitive (a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization)

primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies

Context example:

primitive societies

Similar:

noncivilised; noncivilized (not having a high state of culture and social development)

Domain category:

anthropology (the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings)

Derivation:

primitive (a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization)

primitiveness (a wild or unrefined state)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style

Synonyms:

naive; primitive

Context example:

primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking

Similar:

untrained (not disciplined or conditioned or made adept by training)

Domain category:

beaux arts; fine arts (the study and creation of visual works of art)

 Context examples 

This category includes ependymoblastoma, medulloepithelioma, and supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

(Central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

It is composed of uniform cells resembling primitive germ cells.

(Central Nervous System Germinoma, NCI Thesaurus/Adapted from WHO)

A central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor arising from the cerebellopontine angle of the infratentorial brain.

(Cerebellopontine Angle Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

A primitive neuroectodermal tumor arising from the central nervous system, occurring in children.

(Childhood Central Nervous System Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

The neoplasm is characterized by the presence of primitive skeletal muscle in any stage of myogenesis.

(Childhood Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It was in this old, primitive way that Martin wooed Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A primitive, undifferentiated blood cell which can undergo division and usually gives rise to a white blood cell in the neutrophil lineage.

(Bone Marrow Stem Cell with Predominant Neutrophil Differentiation, NCI Thesaurus)

A study combining observations from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes reveals that the distant planet HAT-P-26b has a primitive atmosphere composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.

('Warm Neptune' Has Unexpectedly Primitive Atmosphere, NASA)

The results support the idea that primitive life might have possibly arisen on the icy moon.

(Ganymede may harbor 'club sandwich' of oceans and ice, NASA)

A primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the supratentorial area of the brain occurring in adults.

(Adult Supratentorial Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)