Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A mammal of the order Primates, which includes the anthropoids and prosimians, characterized by refined development of the hands and feet, a shortened snout, and a large brain.
- n. A bishop of highest rank in a province or country.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The first or chief person.
- n. A bishop of a see ranking as first in a province or provinces; a metropolitan as presiding in his province, or one of several metropolitans as presiding over others. The title of primate did not come into ordinary use till the ninth century, after which it was given to metropolitans of certain sees as special representatives of the Pope. The term primate (
πρωτεύων ) has never been in regular use in the Greek Church. The title of exarch comes nearest to it. In the Roman Catholic Church a primate is a bishop or an archbishop to whom is delegated a certain jurisdiction as vicar of the Pope over the bishops of his province, or to whose see such authority has formerly been delegated. In the Church of England the Archbishop of Canterbury has the title Primate of all England, while the Archbishop of York is Primate of England. In the Church of Ireland the Archbishop of Armagh is Primate of all Ireland, and the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland. - n. In zoology, a member of the order Primates; a primatial or primatic mammal, as man.
- Relating to or characteristic of the order Primates.
Wiktionary
- n. zoology A mammal of the order Primates, including simians and prosimians.
- n. informal A simian anthropoid; an ape, human, or large monkey.
- n. ecclesiastical In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circonscription.
- n. ecclesiastical In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The chief ecclesiastic in a national church; one who presides over other bishops in a province; an archbishop.
- n. (Zoöl.) One of the Primates.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any placental mammal of the order Primates; has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet
- n. a senior clergyman and dignitary
Etymologies
- From Old French or French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primus ("prime, first rank") (Wiktionary)
- From New Latin Prīmātēs, order name, from Latin prīmātēs, pl. of prīmās, principal, of first rank, from prīmus, first; see per1 in Indo-European roots. Sense 2, from Middle English primat, from Old French, from Medieval Latin prīmās, prīmāt-, from Latin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term primate was at once substituted for that of metropolitan, since the archbishops of Canterbury did not claim the right to exercise an administrative authority within the see of”
The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216)
“Coalition building is a good strategy for a subordinate male in primate societies …”
Think Progress » Bayh Claims ‘There’s A Fighting Chance’ Obama Will Call For A Spending Freeze
“These relationships, in primate societies, are maintained by grooming (which is to say, by exhibitions of care).”
“Yes, the gentle Bonobo, that bisexual primate is to be touted as a new social engineering model.”
“An ecologist, she had come to Africa to participate in primate research and to heal the deep wounds of her marriage to a brilliant English mathematician; but she soon found herself plunged into another crisis, one that threatened not only her career but also her life.”
“Until now neuroscientists have assumed that in primate brains simple movements are "hard-wired" while complex behaviors are learned.”
“Furthermore, he says, the chief networkers in primate species have been female because they are more likely to remain in the group in which they are born and give it coherence over time.”
“(NOD/SCID) mouse-repopulating cells (SRCs), and long-term primate hematopoietic repopulating cells.”
“Natural History Museum, a wooden "evolutionary" ceiling by Tania Kovats hangs above the copy of a controversial fossil of what some call a primate missing link.”
“Nobody wants to be seen as a lower primate, which is primarily why George W Bush was referred to as the “smirking chimp”.”
Walking On Eggshells Around Obama « Unambiguously Ambidextrous
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘primate’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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primates
big ones,small ones,as many as
I can findangwantibo, babacoote, baboon, bandar, bandari, bobbejaan, bonobo, bushbaby, cebid, ceboid, chacma, chimp and 102 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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for words
based upon per- indo-european root
turnverein, veer, frump, far, per, paramount, paramour, parget, parterre, parvenu, perissodactyl, palanquin and 133 more...
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prim-, primo-, primi
first; original; early
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
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List 6
Derivatives from Chapter 6 of Part One of English Words from Latin and Greek Elements
semiconductor, centipede, viaduct, dualism, quadripartite, sextuplets, interlocutor, convocation, transverse, sacrosanct, accede, tripartite and 9 more...
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Tsic! tsic! tsic!
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potto, prosimian, strepsirrhine, toothcomb, gum, primate, vertebrae, groom, pelage, nocturnal, claw, canopy and 20 more...
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Groundskeeper Willy's Atred
saturate, deviate, opiate, pirate, palmate, pinnate, originate, pileate, vascillate, oscillate, castigate, acetate and 19 more...
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phej's Words
root, acquiesce, other, bliss, latinate, burst, consistent, gut, hither, tea, wilful, time and 47 more...
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Z-kai
subject to, adopt, attentive, coverage, expectation, lower, demanding, count, project, capability, projection, conviction and 45 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for primate.
hernesheir Of the ~630 different primate species, 50-60 are critically endangered. Humans are primates; haven't we a responsibility to be our "brother"s' keepers? Amazonia, Eastern Brazil, Madagascar, Asia, Africa. Habitat loss is critical. Dec 5, 2010