1
as in rudimentary
belonging to or characteristic of an early level of skill or development
primitive wooden tools were used before the Iron Age
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ancient
relating to or occurring near the beginning of a process, series, or time period
a primitive period in church history when members still lived in communes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in naive
lacking in worldly wisdom or informed judgment
her taste in art was still primitive, but she knew schlock when she saw it
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in barbarian
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of primitive
EW.com, 2 Nov. 2023
By identifying and then chaining together a series of motion primitives, the Amazon researchers have been able to achieve stowing success rates (in the lab) of better than 90 percent.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Feb. 2023
Mike Giuliano, Howard County Times, 23 June 2017
A lot of the campgrounds are primitive, and lack some common amenities - including water.
—Jamie Hale, OregonLive.com, 6 July 2017
See All Example Sentences for primitive
Adjective
Meanwhile, humans have regressed into being primitives that the apes hunt for sport, or feed out of pity from beside their campfire.
—EW.com, 2 Nov. 2023
By identifying and then chaining together a series of motion primitives, the Amazon researchers have been able to achieve stowing success rates (in the lab) of better than 90 percent.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Feb. 2023
Noun
Constructed in front of the stone ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in Ellicott City, that caveman-evocative set provides a suitably primitive stomping ground for the monstrous Caliban.
—Mike Giuliano, Howard County Times, 23 June 2017
A lot of the campgrounds are primitive, and lack some common amenities - including water.
—Jamie Hale, OregonLive.com, 6 July 2017
See All Example Sentences for primitive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for primitive
Adjective
-
Few technologies, and certainly few so rudimentary in design and execution, have done more for the betterment of the world than shipping containers.—
Tony Morley,
National Review,
25 July 2025
-
This is the most simple kind of AI agent that basically provides a rudimentary function.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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To Win Or Not To Win Is Not The Only Question Once AI was a philosophical question – one that religious and spiritual thinkers from ancient cultures asked to better understand the laws of nature.—
Pia Lauritzen,
Forbes.com,
24 July 2025
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In the early to mid–first millennium BCE, ancient horse-riding peoples known as the Siberian Scythians lived in the Altai-Sayan Mountains—a region that spans parts of modern-day Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China.—
Margherita Bassi,
Popular Science,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
Even Portugal, who have been naive defensively but have considerable pace in attack, could threaten in transition, and Italy will need to shore up that element of their game to avoid being caught out.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
4 July 2025
-
How did an obscure, scientifically naive mining society discover the wheel, when highly advanced civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians, did not?—
Kai James,
JSTOR Daily,
3 July 2025
Noun
-
Once, some 2,000 years ago, so many such personages (then known as barbarians) came to Paris simultaneously that the city was destroyed.—
Caity Weaver,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2025
-
This new Leo is poised to save America’s democracy from American barbarians within, seeking to destroy centuries of democratic compromise toward a more perfect union.—
Emmett Coyne,
The Hill,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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The Taung Child’s remains were found alongside other smaller prey remains and eggshells in what may be a prehistoric raptor’s nest.—
Joshua Rapp Learn,
Smithsonian Magazine,
14 July 2025
-
The Neumark-Nord site in central Germany is turning out to be a prehistoric goldmine, and not just for bones.—
Pranjal Malewar,
New Atlas,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Looking for their environmental DNA in scales, slime or skin cells that living beings shed all the time is a simpler way, Workman said.—
Madeline Heim,
jsonline.com,
24 July 2025
-
This involves flexible decision making beyond simple automation.—
Ian Gotts,
Forbes.com,
23 July 2025
Noun
-
Often regarded by historians as a collection of savage tribes, the Scythians emerge as a pivotal force of the ancient world in this monumental history.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
30 Jan. 2023
-
Nearly 32 years ago, Rodney King’s savage beating by police in Los Angeles prompted heartfelt calls for change.—
Aaron Morrison, Claudia Lauer and Adrian Sainz,
Anchorage Daily News,
29 Jan. 2023
Adjective
-
The touch of the grill is felt in every corner of the room, like a high-sillage perfume made of the primal, appetite-turbocharging molecules of smoke and meat and sweetness.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
20 July 2025
-
Long before Trump and his MAGA acolytes, Modi understood how the primal power of blood could be deployed against the delicate bloom of ideas and abstractions.—
Aatish Taseer,
Time,
15 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Primitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/primitive. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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