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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Relating or belonging to the Middle Ages.
  2. adj. Informal Old-fashioned; unenlightened: parents with a medieval attitude toward dating.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Pertaining to or characteristic of the middle ages: as, medieval art or architecture; the medieval spirit; a medieval habit of thought. See middle ages, under age.
  2. n. One belonging to the middle ages.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. of or relating to the Middle Ages, perhaps circa 500 to circa 1500 CE.
  2. adj. having characteristics associated with the Middle Ages.
  3. adj. archaic.
  4. adj. brutal.
  5. n. Someone living in the Middle Ages.
  6. n. A medieval one.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. Same as mediæval, mediævalism, etc.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened
  2. adj. characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages
  3. adj. relating to or belonging to the Middle Ages

Etymologies

  1. From New Latin medium aevum, the middle age : Latin, neuter of medius, middle; see medhyo- in Indo-European roots + Latin aevum, age; see aiw- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “A gritty sword-and-sorcery novel set in medieval Spain, but unlike those inspired by Lord of the Rings, the plot involves not a quest but warfare, which is much more typical of Spanish history.”

    MIND MELD: Guide to International SF/F (Part I )

  • “I know that in medieval times the salt was very, very expensive and it was only for rich people.”

    Setting the Table | Edwardian Promenade

  • “Professor Henry Harpending (Chair of Anthropology at Univ of Utah) has claimed that the hundreds of years of being restricted to the moneylending profession in medieval Europe led to a selection for higher IQ in European Jews.”

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Approaching Arguments That Have A Racist Past

  • “It likewise furthered the career of Mary Shelley as "The Author of Frankenstein," the rubric under which she continued her anonymous publication with a second novel immersed in medieval Italian history, Valperga: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1823).”

    Biography

  • “Fulfill all of your Renaissance fair fantasies with a visit to a park that has been transformed into a medieval market town with "performers, guests and festival goers dress in medieval costume.”

    The Huffington Post: The Cloisters: NYC Day-Trip Getaway (PHOTOS)

  • “White's descriptions of daily life in medieval England are ravishingly vivid: Like a restorer of antiques, he strips away the grime and smoke from the past until it's bright and clear as the present.”

    NPR: Arthur Comes Alive In 'The Once And Future King'

  • “RAZ: And I can imagine you went to your publisher, and you said, I've got a story to write about the building of a cathedral in medieval England.”

    NPR: Author Ken Follett Takes On The 20th Century

  • “The introductory study gives an account of the overall objectives, antecedent history, methodology and plans of the whole series which is followed by chapters explaining the wider context of the source material regarding the Use of Esztergom, as well as the historical background, significance and method of liturgical book printing in medieval Hungary.”

    First Two Volumes of "Monumenta Ritualia Hungarica" Released

  • “With some input from Belgian, Hungarian, Brazilian and French animators, Tomm Moore's Irish cartoon is an attractively fanciful account of how Brendan, a young monk in medieval Ireland, disobeys his uncle the Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson).”

    The Guardian: The Secret of Kells

  • “In fact, in medieval times he would be doing the boy a favor, since that demon could well get him burned at the stake if it stuck around.”

    Still Offended By Language | Heretical Ideas Magazine

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‘medieval’ has been looked up 2096 times, added to 32 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 14.