as in ancient
relating to or occurring near the beginning of a process, series, or time period
primeval forests slowly disappearing as the climate changed
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Examples of primeval in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Some of these vital-to-life substances also have primeval inceptions.
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Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2024
Back home, the ruling families harvested the proceeds to improve the lives of their people, who had, until then, lived in nearly primeval deprivation, with little access to electricity, clean water, medicine, or education.
—Jim Krane, Foreign Affairs, 19 Dec. 2014
One of Europe’s last old-growth forests spans the border of Belarus and Poland, a remnant of the vast primeval woods that once cloaked the European plain; most of it is now threatened by logging, despite its also being a World Heritage site.
—Alexis Marie Adams, Scientific American, 19 Mar. 2024
Salopek tells me that he’s noticed something almost primeval about entering a community that is not your own by foot.
—Sebastian Modak, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Apr. 2023
See all Example Sentences for primeval 
Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2024
Back home, the ruling families harvested the proceeds to improve the lives of their people, who had, until then, lived in nearly primeval deprivation, with little access to electricity, clean water, medicine, or education.
—Jim Krane, Foreign Affairs, 19 Dec. 2014
One of Europe’s last old-growth forests spans the border of Belarus and Poland, a remnant of the vast primeval woods that once cloaked the European plain; most of it is now threatened by logging, despite its also being a World Heritage site.
—Alexis Marie Adams, Scientific American, 19 Mar. 2024
Salopek tells me that he’s noticed something almost primeval about entering a community that is not your own by foot.
—Sebastian Modak, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Apr. 2023
See all Example Sentences for primeval
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'primeval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Primeval.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/primeval. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
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