Primitive
Primitive , adjective
[Latin primitivus, from primus the first: compare French 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.
2.
Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress.
3.
Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar.
Collocations (10)
Primitive axes of coordinate (Geometry) , 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 (Music) , 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 Fathers (Ecclesiastical) , the acknowledged Christian writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. — Shipley
Primitive groove (Anatomy) , 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 streak or Primitive trace (Anatomy) , an opaque and thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm.
Primitive , noun
An original or primary word; a word not derived from another; -- opposed to derivative.