Dictionary Definition
primal adj
1 serving as an essential component; "a cardinal
rule"; "the central cause of the problem"; "an example that was
fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental to modern
industrial structure" [syn: cardinal, central, fundamental, key]
2 having existed from the beginning; in an
earliest or original stage or state; "aboriginal forests"; "primal
eras before the appearance of life on earth"; "the forest
primeval"; "primordial matter"; "primordial forms of life" [syn:
aboriginal, primeval, primaeval, primordial]
User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -aɪməl
- Being the first in
time, or history.
- primal man
- Being of greatest importance; primary.
Synonyms
- (first in time or history): aboriginal, primaeval/primeval, primordial
- (being of greatest importance): primary
Translations
Being the first in time, or history
- Finnish: alkukantainen
Being of greatest importance; primary
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
Primal can refer to:
- Primal (Eureka episode), a season 1 episode of Eureka
- Primal (video game), an action video game for the PlayStation 2
- Primal Pictures, the producer of 3D Interactive Anatomy Software, established in 1991
- Optimus Primal
- Several types of cuts of beef, primarily classified as either American Primals, or British Primals.
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
ab ovo, abecedarian, aboriginal, antenatal, arch, atavistic, austere, autochthonous, banner, bare, basal, basic, basilar, beginning, bodily, born, budding, capital, cardinal, central, champion, chaste, chief, coeval, congenital, connatal, connate, connatural, constituent, constitutional, constitutive, creative, crowning, crucial, dominant, elemental, elementary, embryonic, essential, fetal, first, focal, foremost, formative, foundational, fundamental, generative, genetic, germinal, gestatory, great, gut, headmost, hegemonic, hereditary, homely, homespun, homogeneous, in embryo, in
its infancy, in ovo, in the blood, in the bud, inaugural, inborn, inbred, incarnate, inceptive, inchoate, inchoative, incipient, incunabular, indigenous, indivisible, infant, infantile, inherited, initial, initiative, initiatory, innate, instinctive, instinctual, introductory, inventive, irreducible, leading, magisterial, main, master, material, mere, monolithic, nascent, natal, native, native to, natural, natural to, of a piece,
of the essence, organic,
original, overruling, paramount, parturient, physical, plain, postnatal, predominant, preeminent, pregnant, prenatal, preponderant, prevailing, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, primordial, principal, pristine, procreative, protogenic, pure, pure and simple, radical, ranking, rudimental, rudimentary, ruling, seminal, severe, simon-pure, simple, single, sovereign, spare, star, stark, stellar, substantial, substantive, supereminent, temperamental, topflight, unadorned, uncluttered, underlying, undifferenced, undifferentiated,
uniform, ur