Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various mammals of the order Primates, which consists of the lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes including humans, and is characterized by nails on the hands and feet, a short snout, and a large brain.
- noun A bishop of highest rank in a province or country.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Relating to or characteristic of the order Primates.
- noun The first or chief person.
- noun A bishop of a see ranking as first in a province or provinces; a metropolitan as presiding in his province, or one of several metropolitans as presiding over others.
- noun In zoology, a member of the order Primates; a primatial or primatic mammal, as man.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The chief ecclesiastic in a national church; one who presides over other bishops in a province; an archbishop.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of the Primates.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun zoology A
mammal of theorder Primates , includingsimians andprosimians . - noun informal A
simian anthropoid ; anape ,human , or largemonkey . - noun ecclesiastical In the
Catholic Church , a rare title conferred to or claimed by thesees of certainarchbishops , or the highest-rankingbishop of a present or historical, usually political circonscription. - noun ecclesiastical In the
Anglican Church , anarchbishop , or the highest-rankingbishop of an ecclesiasticprovince .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any placental mammal of the order Primates; has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet
- noun a senior clergyman and dignitary
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word primate.
Examples
-
The term primate was at once substituted for that of metropolitan, since the archbishops of Canterbury did not claim the right to exercise an administrative authority within the see of
The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216) George Burton Adams 1888
-
Coalition building is a good strategy for a subordinate male in primate societies …
Think Progress » Bayh Claims ‘There’s A Fighting Chance’ Obama Will Call For A Spending Freeze 2010
-
These relationships, in primate societies, are maintained by grooming (which is to say, by exhibitions of care).
Archive 2008-09-01 Hal Duncan 2008
-
These relationships, in primate societies, are maintained by grooming (which is to say, by exhibitions of care).
Notes on Strange Fiction: Narrative's Function (3) Hal Duncan 2008
-
Yes, the gentle Bonobo, that bisexual primate is to be touted as a new social engineering model.
Archive 2007-07-01 2007
-
An ecologist, she had come to Africa to participate in primate research and to heal the deep wounds of her marriage to a brilliant English mathematician; but she soon found herself plunged into another crisis, one that threatened not only her career but also her life.
Archive 2007-06-01 Peggy 2007
-
An ecologist, she had come to Africa to participate in primate research and to heal the deep wounds of her marriage to a brilliant English mathematician; but she soon found herself plunged into another crisis, one that threatened not only her career but also her life.
Summer Reading Suggestions from Science Peggy 2007
-
Until now neuroscientists have assumed that in primate brains simple movements are "hard-wired" while complex behaviors are learned.
-
Furthermore, he says, the chief networkers in primate species have been female because they are more likely to remain in the group in which they are born and give it coherence over time.
Gutenber-e Help Page 2005
-
(NOD/SCID) mouse-repopulating cells (SRCs), and long-term primate hematopoietic repopulating cells.
Naturejobs - All Jobs Grant D Trobridge 2010
hernesheir commented on the word primate
Of the ~630 different primate species, 50-60 are critically endangered. Humans are primates; haven't we a responsibility to be our "brother"s' keepers? Amazonia, Eastern Brazil, Madagascar, Asia, Africa. Habitat loss is critical.
December 5, 2010