primitive

1. a. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. Source: opted

2. a. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress. Source: opted

3. a. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar. Source: opted

4. n. An word/original">original or word/primary">primary word; a word not derived from another; -- opposed to derivative. Source: opted

5. adj. belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness Source: wordnet

6. adj. little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type Source: wordnet

7. adj. used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies Source: wordnet

8. adj. of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style Source: wordnet

9. n. a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization Source: wordnet

10. n. a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived Source: wordnet

11. n. a word word/serving">serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms Source: wordnet

12. 1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire." Milton. 2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress. 3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar. Primitive axes of coördinate (Geom.), that system of axes to which the points of a magnitude are first referred, with reference to a second set or system, to which they are afterward referred. -- Primitive chord (Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative. Moore (Encyc. of Music). -- Primitive circle (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane. -- Primitive colors (Paint.), primary colors. See under Color. -- Primitive Fathers (Eccl.), the acknowledged Christian writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. Shipley. -- Primitive groove (Anat.), a depression or groove in the epiblast of the primitive streak. It is not connected with the medullary groove, which appears later and in front of it. -- Primitive plane (Spherical Projection), the plane upon which the projections are made, generally coinciding with some principal circle of the sphere, as the equator or a meridian. -- Primitive rocks (Geol.), primary rocks. See under Primary. -- Primitive sheath. (Anat.) See Neurilemma. -- Primitive streak or trace (Anat.), an opaque and thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm. Syn. -- First; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval; antiquated; old-fashioned. An original or primary word; a word not derived from another; - - opposed to derivative. Source: webster

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