primitive: Meaning and Definition of

prim•i•tive

1. being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence, esp. in an early age of the world: primitive forms of life.
2. early in the history of the world or of humankind.
3. characteristic of early ages or of an early state of human development: primitive toolmaking.
4. of or pertaining to a preliterate or tribal people having cultural or physical similarities with their early ancestors: no longer in technical use.
5. unaffected or little affected by civilizing influences; uncivilized; savage: primitive passions.
6. being in its earliest period; early: the primitive phase of the history of a town.
7. old-fashioned: primitive ideas and habits.
8. simple; unsophisticated: a primitive farm implement.
9. crude; unrefined: primitive living conditions.
1. of or pertaining to a form from which a word or other linguistic form is derived; not derivative; original or radical.
2. of or pertaining to a protolanguage.
3. of or pertaining to a linguistic prime.
11. primary, as distinguished from secondary.
1. rudimentary; primordial.
2. noting species, varieties, etc., only slightly evolved from early antecedent types.
3. of early formation and temporary, as a part that subsequently disappears.

1. someone or something primitive.
1. an artist of a preliterate culture.
2. a naive or unschooled artist.
3. an artist belonging to the early stage in the development of a style.
4. a work of art by a primitive artist.
1. a geometric or algebraic form or expression from which another is derived.
2. a function of which the derivative is a given function.
4. the form from which a given word or other linguistic form has been derived, by either morphological or historical processes, as take in undertake.