preindustrial

adjective

pre·​in·​dus·​tri·​al ˌprē-in-ˈdə-strē-əl 

variants or pre-industrial

1

: not having developed or adopted industry : not industrialized

preindustrial agrarian societies

preindustrial civilization

2

: occurring, existing, or originating before the development or adoption of industry

in preindustrial times

preindustrial levels of carbon dioxide

preindustrial artifacts

still made using preindustrial methods

also : resembling that of preindustrial times

a return to a preindustrial way of life

Examples of preindustrial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The preindustrial world had none of these dynamics. —Michael Beckley, Foreign Affairs, 21 Oct. 2025

The report was bound to raise new doubts on the world’s ability to hit the goal laid out in the 2015 Paris climate accord of keeping the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times. —Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2025

For example, the beginning of a slow collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, which could raise global sea level by about 24 feet (7.4 meters), is one of the most likely tipping elements in a world more than 1.5 C warmer than preindustrial times. —Alexandra A Phillips, The Conversation, 13 Oct. 2025

The year 2024 was the first on record to have an average temperature more than 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above the preindustrial era. —Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for preindustrial

• nonindustrial
• postindustrial
• industrial