primordial soup
noun
: a mixture of organic molecules in evolutionary theory from which life on earth originated
Examples of primordial soup in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The most exciting — and controversial — possibility dates back to a 1971 proposal from the British physicist Stephen Hawking: that black holes arose in the primordial soup of the Big Bang itself.
—
Quanta Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
Then just add liquid water to its surface and let the primordial soup simmer for millions of years as energy from starlight gradually cooks up the chemical building blocks of life.
—Emma R. Hasson, Scientific American, 17 Aug. 2025
Light Galore Our current understanding of the early universe’s development goes something like this: After the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, the cosmos expanded and the primordial soup of subatomic particles cooled.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 30 Jan. 2025
At a much earlier time, 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the roiling primordial soup of protons, electrons, and photons cooled enough for the particles to team up and form neutral hydrogen atoms.
—Bydaniel Clery, science.org, 10 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for primordial soup
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Quanta Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
Then just add liquid water to its surface and let the primordial soup simmer for millions of years as energy from starlight gradually cooks up the chemical building blocks of life.
—Emma R. Hasson, Scientific American, 17 Aug. 2025
Light Galore Our current understanding of the early universe’s development goes something like this: After the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, the cosmos expanded and the primordial soup of subatomic particles cooled.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 30 Jan. 2025
At a much earlier time, 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the roiling primordial soup of protons, electrons, and photons cooled enough for the particles to team up and form neutral hydrogen atoms.
—Bydaniel Clery, science.org, 10 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for primordial soup
Cite this Entry
“Primordial soup.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primordial%20soup. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share