primal
/'praiməl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Relating to the earliest ages or original state of something: Describing something that has existed from the very beginning, in its most ancient or original form.
- Of primary importance; fundamental: Serving as a basic, central, or essential component.
Examples
- Relating to the earliest ages:
- The cave paintings offer a glimpse into the primal world of early humans.
- Scientists study the primal soup from which life may have emerged.
- Of primary importance:
- The primal need for any animal is survival.
- In his theory, the primal cause of conflict is competition for resources.
Advanced Usage
- "Primal scream": A therapeutic technique or a spontaneous cry expressing deep, often repressed, emotions, originating from a primal or fundamental level of the psyche.
- The character let out a primal scream of grief and rage.
- "Primal scene": In psychoanalytic theory, a child's first observation of sexual activity, typically between parents, construed as a primal or foundational event for psychological development.
- Freud discussed the traumatic impact of the primal scene.
Variants and Related Words
- Primally (adverb): In a primal manner.
- The instinct was primally powerful.
- Primality (noun): The state or quality of being primal. (This is a rare, formal term).
Synonyms
- Primordial: Existing at or from the beginning of time; primeval.
- Primeval: Of the earliest time in history.
- Fundamental: Forming a necessary base or core; of central importance.
- Cardinal: Of the greatest importance; fundamental.
- Aboriginal: Inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times.
Antonyms
- Modern: Relating to the present or recent times.
- Secondary: Coming after, less important than, or resulting from someone or something else that is primary.
- Derivative: Imitative of the work of another artist, writer, etc., and usually disapproved of for that reason.
Related Phrases and Concepts
- Primal fear: A deep, instinctive fear that is fundamental to survival.
- The sudden darkness triggered a primal fear in him.
- Primal energy: A raw, basic, and powerful force, often used metaphorically.
- The drummer attacked the kit with primal energy.
Adjective
- having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state
- aboriginal forests
- primal eras before the appearance of life on earth
- the forest primeval
- primordial matter
- primordial forms of life
- serving as an essential component
- a cardinal rule
- the central cause of the problem
- an example that was fundamental to the argument
- computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure