prehistory

plural prehistories · alternative pre-history

1. countableuncountableThe time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.

   “We don’t find evidence for that sort of thing anywhere in prehistory.”

   2014 September 29, Douglas Quenqua, “Toolmaking May Have Risen Independently”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2014

   1 more example

   Along the way, elders of the Delaware, Lushootseed, Tsimshian, Colville, and Creek tribes have provided a comparative perspective on the long time frame of Keresan prehistory and culture.

   2007, Jay Miller, Keresan Pueblos and Chaco Canyon Speculations on Language Identity, Puebloan Cultures, and Southwestern Prehistory, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2025, page 5

   Synonyms: prehistoric age

2. countableuncountableThe study of those times.
3. countableexcessivehumorousuncountableAny past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.

   I was a town boy through and through. The country belonged to a vague pre-history.

   1984, Shiva Naipaul, Beyond the Dragon's Mouth, page 25

4. countableoftenuncountableThe history leading up to some event, condition, etc.

   Psychologists... are mostly bad historians, inventing—as Freud has done—their pre-history to suit their theories.

   1931 July 25, Time & Tide, page 893

   1 more example

   One of the challenges of studying any Jewish custom is that we tend to view it in an anachronistic fashion; we think that what we do today is what was always done. Therefore, in this article we shall describe the pre-history of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, the four basic components of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony before the year 1800 as suggested by Michael Hilton, and six major changes that occurred in modern times.

   2021, David Golinkin, “What is the Origin and History of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony”, in Anat Helman, editor, No Small Matter Features of Jewish Childhood