primitive (n.)

  1. a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization

    [ Syn: primitive person ]

  2. a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived

  3. a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms; `pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived'

    primitive (adj.)

  1. belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness; the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man; primitive movies of the 1890s; primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains

    [ Syn: crude , rude ]

  2. little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type; archaic forms of life; primitive mammals; the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe

    [ Syn: archaic ]

  3. used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies; primitive societies'

  4. of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style; primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking

    [ Syn: naive ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.