Primevality

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The quality of being primeval. uncountable

    "He had been, the greater part of his life, a Quaker; and, to the day of his death, he wore the Quaker costume in its most perfect primevality—his broad hat, half cock and half slouch; his drab coat, of an ample length and breadth of skirts; his drab waistcoat, with flaps of such liberal dimensions, that they afforded room for pockets as large as those in most men’s coats; his drab breeches, fastened at the knees with buckles; his neat gray worsted stockings; and capacious shoes, clasped with large steel buckles."

Example

More examples

"He had been, the greater part of his life, a Quaker; and, to the day of his death, he wore the Quaker costume in its most perfect primevality—his broad hat, half cock and half slouch; his drab coat, of an ample length and breadth of skirts; his drab waistcoat, with flaps of such liberal dimensions, that they afforded room for pockets as large as those in most men’s coats; his drab breeches, fastened at the knees with buckles; his neat gray worsted stockings; and capacious shoes, clasped with large steel buckles."

Etymology

From primeval + -ity.

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