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With its roots medi-, meaning "middle", and ev-, meaning "age", medieval literally means "of the Middle Ages". In this case, middle means "between the Roman empire and the Renaissance"—that is, after the fall of the great Roman state and before the "rebirth" of culture that we call the Renaissance. This same period used to be called the "Dark Ages", since it was believed that in these years civilization all but vanished. And indeed, for most Europeans in these centuries, it was a time of poverty, famine, plague, and superstition, rather than the age of magic, dazzling swordplay, towering castles, and knights in splendid armor displayed in today's graphic novels and video games.
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Examples of medieval in a Sentence
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, 12 Apr. 2024
Corner towers capped by domed roofs and a grand courtyard give it character, along with a moat, drawbridge, and fortified entrance that play up its medieval appeal.
—Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 12 Apr. 2024
All but a few medieval European tapestries are sent to art hell for the sin of trying to be too much like paintings.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2024
Therefore, all individuals inherit DNA from any medieval person with very similar probabilities.
—Discover Magazine, 8 Apr. 2024
So why did the fountain’s creators, who would have been medieval Christians, incorporate Greek deities into their design?
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024
The finding leads the researchers to believe there may be an older settlement buried underneath or near the one from the medieval period.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2024
Researchers also found wrecks and artifacts from the medieval period and the time of the Ottoman Empire.
—Andrea Vacchiano, Fox News, 21 Mar. 2024
Humans have always had a fascination with mermaids, writes University of Liverpool professor Sarah Peverley, a medieval historian, and mermaid expert on her blog.
—Joe Ruiz, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2024
Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024
On paper, the consort is the resident early music ensemble of the Folger Shakespeare Library, specializing in repertoire drawn from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
Horizon Forbidden West is set in a future where tribal societies with medieval (or worse) technology struggle to make progress hundreds of years after a catastrophe that ended our current civilization and forged in its place a world dominated by colossal mechanical menaces.
—Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 27 Sep. 2023
The early medieval scribes responsible for producing the medical books of their age crafted powerful arguments about the respectability and piety of the doctor.
—Meg Leja, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Nov. 2023
The story is, after all, a study in mind-blowing landscapes: frigid wastelands and forests beyond the Wall, the amply-treed Kingsroad, turquoise waters across the Narrow Sea, and the sunny medieval King's Landing, to name a few.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 31 July 2023
The film’s aesthetic fuses the medieval and the futuristic, mirroring the comic’s mix of magic and science.
—Laura Zornosa, Time, 30 June 2023
As long as Mississippi’s social and economic conditions, especially for Black and Hispanic residents, remain mired just this side of medieval, then its isolated effort to improve reading scores will be doomed to failure, and its statistical gains will look not much better than window-dressing.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2023
But within the larger narrative arc of Empires and Barbarians this was logical, the Slavs were far closer to the relevant action in terms of time and space than the Scandinavians who ravaged early medieval rather than post-Roman societies (where the latter bleeds into the former is up for debate).
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 24 May 2010
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'medieval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Medieval.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
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medieval
adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on medieval
Nglish: Translation of medieval for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of medieval for Arabic Speakers
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