HOW TO PRONOUNCE
primitive
/ˈpɹɪmətɪv/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does primitive mean?
noun
- An original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative.
- A member of a primitive society.
- Primitive or primeval nature; the innate, instinctive element within a person; the deep, instinctive, precultural layer of human nature.
More meanings (14)
noun
- Natural or premodern environment or conditions; life lacking modern technology and society.
- A simple-minded person.
- A data type that is built into the programming language, as opposed to more complex structures.
- Any of the simplest elements (instructions, statements, etc.) available in a programming language.
- A basic geometric shape from which more complex shapes can be constructed.
- A function whose derivative is a given function; an antiderivative.
adjective
- Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first.
- Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity.
- Relating to an art style characterized by asymmetrical shapes and faded colors.
- Crude, obsolete.
- Original; primary; radical; not derived.
- Not derived from another of the same type
- (dated) Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.
- (dated) most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈpɹɪmətɪv/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
There was something very pleasingly human, he thought, in this primitive readiness to resort to fisticuffs, and this frank and genial reconciliation.
Without them he would never have emerged from his primitive barbarian state, and without them again he would soon return to it.
More book examples (3)
Everything about him is primitive and unformed, but he is himself the result of the labor and the experience of eighteen centuries.
Virtually the whole range of industrial employments is an outgrowth of what is classed as woman's work in the primitive barbarian community.
And the paucity of miracles wherever we have contemporary records, as in the case of primitive Islamism, is a most significant fact.