primitive

plural primitives · alternative obsolete primative

1. human sciencesAn original or primary word; a word not derived from another, as opposed to derivative.

   Synonyms: primitive word, radical, radical word

2. A member of a primitive society.
3. Primitive or primeval nature; the innate, instinctive element within a person; the deep, instinctive, precultural layer of human nature.

   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.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 54

4. Natural or premodern environment or conditions; life lacking modern technology and society.

   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.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 113

5. A simple-minded person.
6. computingA data type that is built into the programming language, as opposed to more complex structures.
7. computingAny of the simplest elements (instructions, statements, etc.) available in a programming language.

   A write-what-where primitive allows the attacker to write arbitrary data wherever they want in the memory

   2021, Arti Noor, Abhijit Sen, Gaurav Trivedi, Proceedings of Emerging Trends and Technologies on Intelligent Systems: ETTIS 2021, page 26

8. A basic geometric shape from which more complex shapes can be constructed.
9. mathematicsA function whose derivative is a given function; an antiderivative.

comparative more primitive · superlative most primitive · alternative obsolete primative

1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first.

   primitive innocence; the primitive church

   2 more examples

   it is from such primitive beings that the highest organisms now extant are the marvellously developed descendants

   1895, Edmund Montgomery, “To Be Alive, What is it?”, in The Monist

   "The cranium is clearly plesiomorphic in overall form, presenting primitive traits shared by earlier hominins," the authors wrote.

   2025 September 27, Julia Jacobo, “Million-year-old skull could rewrite timeline of human origin, researchers say”, in ABC News, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2026

   Synonyms: incipient, nascent, primary, beginning, commencing, earliest, first, incipient

2. Of or pertaining to or harking back to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity.

   a primitive style of dress

   3 more examples

   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.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   The intermediate stations were of the most primitive type.

   1951 August, “The Why and the Wherefore: The West Sussex Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 573

   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.

   1959, Mircea Eliade, “Introduction”, in Willard R. Trask, transl., The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (Harvest Book; HB 144), New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, →ISBN, page 11

   Synonyms: backwards, old-timey, retro

   1. Relating to an art style characterized by asymmetrical shapes and faded colors.

      I used primitive hearts to decorate the quilt.

      Synonyms: backwards, old-timey, retro

3. Crude, obsolete.

   primitive ideas

   Synonyms: rudimentary, undeveloped, antiquated, outworn, crude, garagelike, rough, rude

4. grammarOriginal; primary; radical; not derived.

   a primitive verb

   2 more examples

   The primitive root in "children" is "child."

   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.

   1831, Noah Webster, Rudiments of English Grammar; Being an Abridgment of the Improved Grammar of the English Language, New-Haven, page 6

   Synonyms: radical · Antonyms: derivative, derived

5. datedbiologyOccurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.
6. mathematicsNot derived from another of the same type

   Synonyms: imprimitive

7. datedhuman sciencesmost recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of

   1 more example

   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).

   1933, Leonard Bloomfield, Language, Henry Holt, page 13

   Synonyms: proto-