antediluvian — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.

   Synonyms

   antediluvialprediluvianpreflood

   Antonyms

   postdiluvialpostdiluvian

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   [P]erhaps ſome perſons might outlive Methuſelah; the Text intending onely the maſculine line of Seth, conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian Chronology.

   For Noah, vvho had no doubt preach'd againſt the Vices of the Antediluvian VVorld, and againſt Drunkenneſs among the reſt, muſt certainly knovv the Uſe of the Vine, and the Abuſe of it too; hovv elſe did he come to plant it at all, and to preſs the Juice out for Drinking it at all?

   The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of the Atlantean culture / The antediluvian kings colonized the world / All the gods who play in the mythological dramas / In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis

2. Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.

   Usage

   • broadly

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.

3. Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.

   Usage

   • excessive
   • Figurative
   • Humorous

   Synonyms

   prehistoric

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   [H]is eldest son Bo-bo, […] let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building, you may think it), what was of much more importance, a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number, perished.

   On the shore were the remains of an antediluvian forest with ugly black stumps showing, and further up an old stubby deserted lighthouse.

   More examples (1)

   There was an antediluvian tradition (much older than Shakespeare) that on Midsummer's Night young people should go with lanterns, and a fiddler, and a keg or two of cider, to a patch of turf known as Donkey's Green in the heart of the woods and there celebrate the solstice with dancing.

   The air inside smelled antediluvian, regal somehow, with traces of pipe tobacco, tea leaves, cooking sherry, and the earthen aroma of stone architecture.

   More examples (1)

   If we agree with [Alan] Blinder's assessment, we must acknowledge the pressing need to inject new ideas into an old system—a system so antediluvian that it is, remarkably, still based on the agrarian calendar.

4. Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated.

   Usage

   • excessive
   • Figurative
   • Humorous

   Examples

   Those ideas are antediluvian.

   More examples (2)

   If, by any miſchance, and in an evil hour, ſome country couſin, not knovving my vvays, or ſome antediluvian prig, not minding them, happen to fall upon me vvith formal ſpeeches, vvhere I can make no eſcape, a fit of yavvning takes me immediately, and I am demoliſhed for the reſt of the day.

   Portions of the ruling reflected the court's culturally conservative roots, stating that because marriage is only for reproduction, LGBTQ relationships are unnatural because they cannot produce children. […] The ruling continued in its surprisingly antediluvian rationale, invalidating untold numbers of nontraditional families.

Noun

1. A person who lived in the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, especially one of the biblical patriarchs.

   Synonyms

   prediluvian

2. A very old person.

   Usage

   • excessive
   • Figurative
   • Humorous

   Examples

   From what cursed old antediluvian, who lived before the invention of the spinning-jennies, she learned this craft, Heaven only knows; […]

   He was a boy in form, and an antediluvian in feature. Some thought […] that he was really and truly a Brownie.

3. A person with extremely old-fashioned attitudes, ideas, etc., especially to a laughable extent; a fogey or old fogey.

   Usage

   • excessive
   • Figurative
   • Humorous

Adjective

1. of or relating to the period before the biblical flood

   Synonyms

   antediluvial

   Examples

   antediluvian man

2. so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

   Synonyms

   antiquatedarchaic

   Examples

   a ramshackle antediluvian tenement

   antediluvian ideas

   More examples (1)

   archaic laws

Noun

1. any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Noachian deluge

   Synonyms

   antediluvian patriarch

   Broader terms

   patriarch

2. a very old person

   Synonyms

   ancient

   Broader terms

   oldsterold personsenior citizengolden ager