primordial

Belonging to the very distant past, especially the earliest history of the world.

• Life began in the primordial oceans.
• The film imagines a primordial world full of strange creatures.
• Scientists study how living things emerged from primordial soup.

Similar words: primeval, prehistoric

Common phrases: primordial soup, primordial ocean, primordial world

Existing first, before other things developed from it.

• The theory begins with primordial matter.
• They searched for the primordial source of the tradition.
• The model describes the universe in its primordial state.

Similar words: original, initial, earliest

Common phrases: primordial state, primordial matter, primordial source

Related to the first stage of growth of a living thing or one of its parts.

• The image shows a primordial leaf.
• Primordial cells can develop into more specialized cells.
• The researchers examined primordial tissue in the embryo.

Similar words: rudimentary

Common phrases: primordial cell, primordial leaf, primordial tissue

Describing elements or forms of elements that have existed on Earth since it formed.

• Uranium contains primordial isotopes.
• The rocks preserve traces of primordial elements.
• Some primordial nuclides have survived because they decay very slowly.

Common phrases: primordial isotope, primordial nuclide, primordial element

A basic principle or element from which other things develop.

• The philosopher treated water as a primordial.
• These primordials form the basis of his theory.
• She sought a single primordial behind all existence.

Similar words: first principle, basic element

Common phrases: a primordial, fundamental primordial

The earliest condition of something, before it changed or developed.

• The essay explores the primordial before all change.
• He imagined returning to the primordial.
• Her theory describes how order emerged from the primordial.

Similar words: original state

Common phrases: the primordial, return to the primordial