Primal

//ˈpɹaɪməl// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A primal cut (of meat).
Verb
  1. 1
    To take part in primal therapy. intransitive

    "One of my patients told me of an acquaintance who primaled in the shopping center. Janov described a patient who primaled on the tennis court. Apparently, once initiated, patients primal in any place at any time for the rest of their lives."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Being the first in time or in history. not-comparable

    "primal man"

  2. 2
    Of greatest importance; primary. not-comparable

    "The most primal motion of all, of course, is vertical—a steady eternal fall into the infinity of space; speed cannot be ascribed to them, since, given the infinity of space and the absolute steadiness of the fall, no [relative] standard for it exists at all."

  3. 3
    Being one of the pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass during butchering, prior to division into smaller cuts. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state wordnet
  2. 2
    serving as an essential component wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aboriginalprimaryab ovoabecedarianaboriginalaboriginal

Example

More examples

"Like the colour blue, stoats are one of the things that appeal to me on a primal level."

Etymology

Probably partly from Medieval Latin prīmālis, from Latin prīmus (“first”) + -ālis, and partly from prime + -al.

Related phrases

primal hordeprimal sceneprimal screamprimal therapistprimal therapy

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.