antediluvian
/ˌæn.ti.dəˈlu.vi.ən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.08 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
6
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.
adj
Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.
adj
Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated.
Humorous
noun
A person who lived in the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, especially one of the biblical patriarchs.
Example Sentences
- "[P]erhaps ſome perſons might outlive Methuſelah; the Text intending onely the maſculine line of Seth, conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian Chronology."
- "For Noah, vvho had no doubt preach'd againſt the Vices of the Antediluvian VVorld, and againſt Drunkenneſs among the reſt, muſt certainly knovv the Uſe of the Vine, and the Abuſe of it too; hovv elſe did he come to plant it at all, and to preſs the Juice out for Drinking it at all?"
- "The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of the Atlantean culture / The antediluvian kings colonized the world / All the gods who play in the mythological dramas / In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis"
- "Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view."
- "[H]is eldest son Bo-bo, […] let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building, you may think it), what was of much more importance, a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number, perished."
- "On the shore were the remains of an antediluvian forest with ugly black stumps showing, and further up an old stubby deserted lighthouse."
Etymology
PIE word *dwís From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō (“to wash away”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder, in two’) + lavō (“to wash”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”))) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analyzable as ante- + diluvian. Adjective sense 2 (“long extinct”) is from the fact that such animals and plants were originally believed to have perished in the biblical flood referred to above.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌæn.ti.dəˈlu.vi.ən/
- British English: /ˌæn.tɪ.dɪˈluː.vɪ.ən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more antediluvian (comparative)
most antediluvian (superlative)
antedeluvian (alternative)
antediluvians (plural)