'Primitive' definitions:

Definition of 'primitive'

From: WordNet
adjective
Belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness; "the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man"; "primitive movies of the 1890s"; "primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains" [syn: crude, primitive, rude]
adjective
Little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type; "archaic forms of life"; "primitive mammals"; "the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe" [syn: archaic, primitive]
adjective
Used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies; "primitive societies"
adjective
Of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style; "primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking" [syn: primitive, naive]
noun
A person who belongs to an early stage of civilization [syn: primitive, primitive person]
noun
A mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
noun
A word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms; "`pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived"

Definition of 'Primitive'

From: GCIDE
  • Primitive \Prim"i*tive\, n. An original or primary word; a word not derived from another; -- opposed to derivative. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Primitive'

From: GCIDE
  • Primitive \Prim"i*tive\, a. [L. primitivus, fr. primus the first: cf. F. primitif. See Prime, a.]
  • 1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire." --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar. [1913 Webster]
  • Primitive axes of coordinate (Geom.), that system of axes to which the points of a magnitude are first referred, with reference to a second set or system, to which they are afterward referred.
  • Primitive chord (Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative. --Moore (Encyc. of Music).
  • Primitive circle (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane.
  • Primitive colors (Paint.), primary colors. See under Color.
  • Primitive Fathers (Eccl.), the acknowledged Christian writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D.
  • 325. --Shipley.
  • Primitive groove (Anat.), a depression or groove in the epiblast of the primitive streak. It is not connected with the medullary groove, which appears later and in front of it.
  • Primitive plane (Spherical Projection), the plane upon which the projections are made, generally coinciding with some principal circle of the sphere, as the equator or a meridian.
  • Primitive rocks (Geol.), primary rocks. See under Primary.
  • Primitive sheath. (Anat.) See Neurilemma.
  • Primitive streak or Primitive trace (Anat.), an opaque and thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: First; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval; antiquated; old-fashioned. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'primitive'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Primitive'