Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Extremely old and antiquated. See Synonyms at old.
- adj. Bible Occurring or belonging to the era before the Flood.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Existing before the flood (the Noachian deluge) recorded in Genesis; relating to the times or events before the Noachian deluge: as, the antediluvian patriarchs: by extension, applied to the time preceding any great flood or inundation, as that which is said to have occurred in China in the time of Yao, 2298 b. c.
- Belonging to very ancient times; antiquated; primitive; rude; simple: as, antediluvian ideas.
- n. One who lived before the deluge.
- n. Hence, humorously
- n. One who is very old or very antiquated in manners or notions; an old fogy.
Wiktionary
- adj. ancient or antiquated; old; prehistoric.
- adj. Supremely dated.
- adj. Pertaining or belonging to the time period prior to a great or destructive flood or deluge
- adj. biblical Pertaining or belonging to the time prior to Noah's Flood.
- n. One who lived prior to Noah's Flood.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or relating to the period before the Deluge in Noah's time; hence, antiquated.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a very old person
- adj. so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
- n. any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Noachian deluge
- adj. of or relating to the period before the biblical flood
Etymologies
- From Latin ante- (“before”) + diluvium ("flood"), in reference to the story of Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6–9), an early episode in the Bible. (Wiktionary)
- From ante- + Latin dīluvium, flood; see diluvial. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The doctor armed himself, and held himself in readiness to fire upon an animal which, by its dimensions, recalled the antediluvian quadrupeds.”
The English at the North Pole Part I of the Adventures of Captain Hatteras
“Parker also complains that British (military) ambulances are "antediluvian" and "reveals" that the laboratory at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, which is used to match blood and test samples, had to close between 11.30am and 3.30pm because the air-conditioning system could not keep the temperature below 97F (36C).”
“Sally Keeble, MP for Northampton North, thought the ban epitomised 'the complete nonsense of an institution that won't move on', and Barbara Follett, MP for Stevenage, talked of 'antediluvian' attitudes.”
“Antiquites Celtiques," published in 1847, M. Boucher de Perthes styled these older tools "antediluvian," because they came from the lowest beds of a series of ancient alluvial strata bordering the valley of the Somme, which geologists had termed "diluvium.”
“That way, they would have found out what kind of antediluvian throwback they hve admitted to the EU.”
“When Dewi Morris uses the word "antediluvian" you know you've got a problem”
“He complains that merchants in Pasadena are "antediluvian" when it comes to the Internet.”
Journerdism | Will Sullivan's Stompin' ground for journalists and nerds.
“antediluvian" shape of the bat -- no paddings on the legs.”
“antediluvian," and for startling originality in his views as well as fearlessness in expressing them.”
“antediluvian" in their turn; are ready also to climb the scaffold - poles always to be found somewhere about the great church, or dive along the odd, secret passages of the old builders, with quite learned explanations (being proud of, and therefore painstaking about, the place) of architectural periods, of Gothic "late" and”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘antediluvian’.
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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RELI - words you immediately associat...
baptism, almighty, Balaam, altar, anoint, archangel, apostle, advent, writings, wonders, timbrel, thorns and 341 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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New Words
No definite conception of these words.
reggaeton, fugacious, astray, artillery, quietism, heteronomy, plebeian, remit, hypostasize, discountenance, rictus, wail and 60 more...
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antidiluvian
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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Dinosaurs, extended
At first, this was a list for things found in Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History by David E. Fastovsky. But now it's degenerated a bit to contain anything dinosaur or fossil related.
disarticulate, body fossil, trace fossil, apatite, soft anatomy, permineralization, replacement, articulated, disarticulated, intestine’s-eye view, ichnofossil, paleoenvironment and 270 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 476 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for antediluvian.
super-logos Thank you. I have a visual problem from time to time. Aug 14, 2008
mollusque Logos, you might want to check the spelling on your profile, then. Aug 14, 2008
super-logos This is my fave word of all time ! Aug 13, 2008
arby Ah, I thought it was just archaic in general. I love the synonyms for this one.
Roget's II
ADJECTIVE: 1. Of, existing, or occurring in a distant period: ancient, early, primitive. See START. 2. Belonging to, existing, or occurring in times long past: age-old, ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, hoary, old, olden, old-time, timeworn, venerable. Idioms: old as Methuselah, old as the hills. See NEW. May 18, 2007
liu_xing goes very well with 'prelapsarian' Jan 22, 2007
seanahan Well Tank, that's the first place I heard it, but I've since heard it used otherwise. Dec 2, 2006
tankexmortis I hope I'm not the only one who thought this was only a term from Vampire: the Masquerade...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antediluvians_%28World_of_Darkness%29
... I only played the Troika computer game! Don't look at me like that! Dec 2, 2006
dbmag9 Now used to mean "prehistoric", this word etymologically refers to "before the flood" (the one described in the book of Genesis). I don't mind; it sounds beautiful. Dec 2, 2006