primordial

adjective pri·mor·di·al \ prī-ˈmȯr-dē-əl \

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Examples: primordial in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of primordial

1 a : first created or developed : primeval 1

b : existing in or persisting from the beginning (as of a solar system or universe)

a primordial gas cloud

c : 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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primordially

play \prī-ˈmȯr-dē-ə-lē\ adverb

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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

Researchers are hoping this technique, applied to other disks, will reveal more planets in formation and help us understand how gravity molds primordial clouds into planetary systems, including our own.

— daniel clery, Science | AAAS, "This distant disk may contain the youngest exoplanets ever detected," 14 June 2018
One theory suggests that dark matter is made of primordial black holes, hypothetical objects that would have formed just after the big bang.

— National Geographic, "This Is the Farthest Star Humans Have Ever Seen," 3 Apr. 2018
There was a time, a couple of decades ago, when trolls didn’t really exist online—but communities of prototrolls were beginning to crawl out of the primordial ooze of the early web.

— emma grey ellis, WIRED, "4Chan Is Turning 15—And Remains the Internet's Teenager," 1 June 2018
Peterson extolls classic Disney movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as upholding primordial gender roles, but objects to Frozen for violating those norms.

— jeet heer, The New Republic, "Jordan Peterson’s Tired Old Myths," 21 May 2018
From 2009 to 2013 Planck created an unprecedentedly detailed map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the afterglow of the big bang’s primordial fireball from when the universe was only 380,000 years old.

— lee billings, Scientific American, "Cosmic Conflict: Diverging Data on Universe’s Expansion Polarizes Scientists," 16 May 2018
To see back into the dark age before the first stars, astronomers look for a signal emitted when electrons in the primordial neutral hydrogen gas spontaneously flipped their orientation.

— daniel clery, Science | AAAS, "China’s moon mission will probe cosmic dark ages," 16 May 2018
This ancient, exiled rock from the solar system's primordial days provides unprecedented evidence of what that early time was really like, researchers said in the statement.

— chris stirewalt, Fox News, "Dems need to get specific," 10 May 2018
The mean celebrity chef with high blood pressure hovers lasciviously over his creation, his primordial lust for the French fry sandwich overwhelming.

— alex siquig, GQ, "The Chip Butty Is the Deranged Nonsensical Sandwich of My Dreams," 7 May 2018

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.