Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of primitive.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Perhaps he could save those old pitchforks, which he referred to as primitives and I referred to as kindling.

    Berks county news 2009

  • Luckily we can form a notion of the Penguin primitives from the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch primitives, and from the French primitives, who are superior to all the rest; as M. Gruyer tell us they are more logical, logic being a peculiarly

    Penguin Island 1909

  • Luckily we can form a notion of the Penguin primitives from the Italian,

    Penguin Island Anatole France 1884

  • Having the Na’vi be way beyond us when initially appearing to be harmless primitives is also another fairly standard SciFi narrative device.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Just got back from Avatar. 2010

  • Even if they’re a post-toolmaking society, anybody with interest enough in primitives like us to make first contact would seem likely to know “things which intelligent primitives ought to know to even be worth bothering with.”

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Good Tips in Case You Find Yourself Being the Person Who Makes First Contact with Intelligent Extraterrestrials 2010

  • There's no pyramid that conveniently places Victorian England at the apex and descends down the flanks to the so-called primitives of the world.

    Wade Davis on the worldwide web of belief and ritual Wade Davis 2008

  • There's no pyramid that conveniently places Victorian England at the apex and descends down the flanks to the so-called primitives of the world.

    Wade Davis on the worldwide web of belief and ritual Wade Davis 2008

  • There's no pyramid that conveniently places Victorian England at the apex and descends down the flanks to the so-called primitives of the world.

    Wade Davis on the worldwide web of belief and ritual Wade Davis 2008

  • What is most remarkable, in fact, is the degree of sophistication with which these so-called primitives are able to manipulate the human mind through the selective application of intoxicating alkaloids.

    Over the Edge Jonathan Kellerman 1987

  • What is most remarkable, in fact, is the degree of sophistication with which these so-called primitives are able to manipulate the human mind through the selective application of intoxicating alkaloids.

    Over the Edge Jonathan Kellerman 1987

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