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Definition of primordial
1a : first created or developed : primeval 1b : existing in or persisting from the beginning (as of a solar system or universe) a primordial gas cloudc : earliest formed in the growth of an individual or organ : primitive primordial cells
2 : fundamental, primary primordial human joys — Sir Winston Churchill
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Examples of primordial in a Sentence
all life on Earth supposedly came from a primordial ooze in existence many millions of years ago
Recent Examples of primordial from the Web
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Plath’s interest in her visual life went beyond some primordial notion of selfie culture.
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Every cubic centimeter of space averages roughly 350 primordial neutrinos lingering from the big bang, and every second, the sun sends trillions of higher-energy neutrinos streaming through each of us.
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Since the Fairfax site does have the petroleum byproduct, fossils found there will land at the Tar Pits Museum, but only after the laborious process of extracting and ridding them of the primordial black goo.
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In the late 19th century he was released from his primordial prison and has reigned intermittently ever since.
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At a TEDx talk in 2012, Friedman likened the seasteading movement to the Cambrian Explosion—a moment in evolutionary history when the globs and mollusks of the primordial soup gave way to a diverse array of complex organisms.
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To be sure, Scott's latest swan dives off the philosophical deep end to muck around in a primordial stew of Big Questions about creation.
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What hasn’t yet been observed, though, are additional swirling patterns, evidence of primordial gravitational waves, which many models of inflation predict should be there.
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The genre emerged in New Orleans at the turn of the century out of the primordial soup of African, European and Caribbean music.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'primordial'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The history of "primordial" began when the Latin words primus (meaning "first") and "ordiri" (meaning "to begin") came together to form "primordium," the Latin word for "origin." When it entered English in the 14th century, "primordial" was used in the general sense "primeval." Early on, there were hints that "primordial" would lend itself well to discussions of the earth's origins. Take, for instance, this passage from a 1398 translation of an encyclopedia called On the Properties of Things: "The virtu of God made primordial mater, in the whiche as it were in massy thinge the foure elementis were . . . nought distinguishd." Nowadays, primordial matter is often referred to in evolutionary theory as "primordial soup," a mixture of organic molecules from which life on earth originated.
PRIMORDIAL Defined for English Language Learners
primordial
playDefinition of primordial for English Language Learners
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: existing from the beginning of time : very ancient
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about primordial
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for primordial Spanish Central: Translation of primordial Nglish: Translation of primordial for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of primordial for Arabic speakers
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