antediluvian
adjective
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Before there was antediluvian, there were the Latin words ante (meaning "before") and diluvium (meaning "flood"). In the 1600s, English speakers were using antediluvian to describe conditions they believed existed before the great flood described in the biblical account of Noah and the ark. By the early 1700s, the word had come to be used as both an adjective and a noun referring to anything or anyone prodigiously old. Naturalist Charles Darwin used it to characterize the mighty "antediluvian trees" some prehistoric mammals might have used as a food source, and in his American Notes, Charles Dickens described an elderly lady who informed him, "It is an extremely proud and pleasant thing … to be an antediluvian."
Examples of antediluvian in a Sentence
Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes.com, 15 June 2025
Image Still, Professor Bogdanor said, the antediluvian nature of the Lords eroded faith in government generally, particularly among young people.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2024
Eliminating antediluvian student loan debts held by vulnerable older adults seems both just and good public policy.
—Next Avenue, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024
Glory be to god for logjams, the antediluvian dark,
for being a supply of goodness outpacing demand
because so many prefer their egos’ endless ranting
to the suggestion of a different narrator or narrative.
—Virginia Konchan, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for antediluvian
Cite this Entry
“Antediluvian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antediluvian. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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antediluvian
adjective
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