Pronunciations (2)
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/ˈpɹɪmɪtɪv/
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ˈpɹɪmɪtɪv
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.
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It may be that, living among primitive surroundings, the dormant primitive deep within the white man is drawn towards the absolute primitive in the aboriginal.
Natural or premodern environment or conditions; life lacking modern technology and society.
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Out there in the primitive, white-man Rust had made his tools out of the primitive, as these stone-age people were making excellent string from the primitive.
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.
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A write-what-where primitive allows the attacker to write arbitrary data wherever they want in the memory
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.
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primitive innocence; the primitive church
it is from such primitive beings that the highest organisms now extant are the marvellously developed descendants
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"The cranium is clearly plesiomorphic in overall form, presenting primitive traits shared by earlier hominins," the authors wrote.
Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity.
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a primitive style of dress
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By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
The intermediate stations were of the most primitive type.
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It could be said that the history of religions—from the most primitive to the most highly developed—is constituted by a great number of hierophanies, by manifestations of sacred realities.
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.
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I used primitive hearts to decorate the quilt.
Crude, obsolete.
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primitive ideas
Original; primary; radical; not derived.
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a primitive verb
The primitive root in "children" is "child."
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Division of words. Words are primitive or radical, and derivative or compound. Of primitive words. Primitive or radical words are such as cannot be divided, or separated into parts which are significant; as man, hope, bless.
Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.
Usage- Dated
Not derived from another of the same type
- Synonyms
most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of
Usage- Dated
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We infer that other groups of related languages, such as the Germanic (or the Slavic or the Celtic), which show a similar resemblance, have arisen in the same way; it is only an accident of history that for these groups we have no written records of the earlier state of the language, as it was spoken before the differentiation set in. To these unrecorded languages we give names like Primitive Germanic (Primitive Slavic, Primitive Celtic, and so on).
Adjective
belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness
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the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man
primitive movies of the 1890s
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primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains
little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
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archaic forms of life
primitive mammals
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the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe
used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies
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primitive societies
of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style
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primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking
Noun
a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
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a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
- Broader terms
a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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‘pick’ is the primitive from which ‘picket’ is derived