01 a. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primiti…
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1.
Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church.
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2.
Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress.
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3.
Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar.
Phrases & compounds
Primitive axes of coordinate —
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 —
that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative.
Primitive circle —
the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane.
Primitive colors —
primary colors. See under Color.
Primitive Fathers —
the acknowledged Christian writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D. 325.
Primitive groove —
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 —
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 —
primary rocks. See under Primary.
Primitive sheath —
See Neurilemma.
Primitive streak —
an opaque and thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm.