Definition of prehistory
1 : the study of prehistoric humankind
2 : a history of the antecedents of an event, situation, or thing
3 : the prehistoric period of human evolution
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Examples of prehistory in a Sentence
We are learning about the prehistory of North America.
Recent Examples of prehistory from the Web
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Jon’s father is Rhaegar Targaryen, the long-dead older brother of Dany who ran off with Lyanna during the show’s prehistory.
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So, nonfiction by subject and then chronologically — American prehistory, Colonial history, Civil War, etc.
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Pre-colonization Aboriginal culture is thought to have lasted more than 60,000 years in Australia, from prehistory to the late 1700s when European settlers moved in, forcing a lifestyle change.
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Lapidary has its roots in prehistory, as early humans began fashioning tools and weapons from stone.
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Last month, Netflix canceled The Get Down, its crazily expensive rap-prehistory melodrama.
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Early in the process of piecing together the story of human prehistory, many human-like fossils were found in Europe, so some supposed that Homo sapiens first arose on that continent.
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Such a dramatic new date in human prehistory may seem shocking, especially to people who expect evolution to follow a tidy linear progression.
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Minutes upon minutes unfold with strings and synths droning patiently: prehistory?
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prehistory.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of prehistory
1871
Other Anthropology Terms
PREHISTORY Defined for English Language Learners
prehistory
playDefinition of prehistory for English Language Learners
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: the period of time in the past before people could write : the time before history was written down
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: the time and events that came before and led to the development of something
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