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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Example Sentences
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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 company decided on the dire wolf for two main reasons: their ancient DNA was available, and they can safely be born using a surrogate.—
Andrea Marks,
Rolling Stone,
7 Apr. 2025
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The gray wolves share physical features with dire wolves but remain genetically and behaviorally distinct due to the limits of current technology and incomplete ancient DNA.—
John W. Dean,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 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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Part of what makes America beautiful is its special creatures like the prehistoric-looking Mojave desert tortoise, whose survival in Nevada is more dire since a federal grant awarded to protect it from being run over by cars is among the frozen grants.—
Noël Fletcher,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
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In more recent years, however, prehistoric dinosaurs, speeding zombies, and even ancient Greek heroes have invaded the city, thanks to a plethora of movie makers choosing it as their primary filming location.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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To get around that, the scientists first tap into the fertilized egg of a pink pigeon and extract what are known as primordial germ cells (PGCs)—the cells that eventually become sperm and egg.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
7 Apr. 2025
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My body, equipped with the primordial fear of starvation, was a formidable foe.—
Emma Pattee,
Glamour,
25 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Mahdi's earliest memory was his father slamming his mother through a glass table and later lying to his son and saying his mother was dead.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
11 Apr. 2025
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Colossal said two of the dire wolves were born late last year, while the third arrived in early 2025.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
11 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Primeval.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/primeval. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
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