prediluvian

P3R1E1D2I1L1U1V4I1A1N1

adjective

Before the Flood; antediluvian.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

adjectiveprediluvian (not comparable)
  1. not comparableBefore the Flood; antediluvian.
nounprediluvian (plural prediluvians)

plural prediluvians

  1. One who lived before the Flood; an antediluvian.

    With only two exceptions the prediluvians lived into their tenth century.

    2016, Tremper Longman III, Genesis (The Story of God Bible Commentary), Zondervan, →ISBN, page 104
    2 more examples

    When Noah in ark, with his ſons did embark, / Prediluvians, uplifted and pompous, / Deem’d his nautical ſcheme a fantaſtical dream, / And pronounc’d the projector non compos.

    1786 November, The County Magazine, for the Years 1786 and 1787, volume I, Salisbury: […] B. C. Collins, and by S. Crowder, in London, published 1788, page 173

    […] for the British have in 1,500 years progressed from an initial stage that was probably inferior to that of the prediluvians, and any shipbuilding that they learned from earlier races was a hindrance, not a help.

    2005, C. E. V. Craufurd, Treasure of Ophir: In Search of a Lost City, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2011, →ISBN, page 186

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Englishdiluvian
  10. Englishprediluvian

From pre- + diluvian.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with prediluvian

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

prediluvian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prediluvian

MLA

“prediluvian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prediluvian. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prediluvian,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prediluvian.

Source: prediluvian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.