Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Existing or coming before a modern period or time.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Preceding or predating the modern era

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

pre- +‎ modern

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Examples

  • Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging, or prostitution — an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times.

    The Hijras « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2008

  • So in short, premodern agricultural states don't seem very urban at all, comparison is needed, i guess.

    What cities have in common Daniel Little 2009

  • Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging or prostitution — an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times.

    2006 October 14 « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2006

  • Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging or prostitution — an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times.

    2006 October « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2006

  • Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging or prostitution — an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times.

    Homing in on the Hijda « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2006

  • Yunnan's interactions with other mainland Southeast Asian polities in premodern times have been mostly neglected and its significance in cross-regional trade and commerce has not received proportionate attention. 11 The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia does not mention either Nanzhao or Dali in its discussion of ancient Southeast Asian kingdoms. 12 Chinese scholars, though producing many works mainly based on Chinese sources, reflect a northern Sinocentric bias, and maintain the arbitrary conclusion that Yunnan has been part of China since the Qin-Han period.

    Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) 2008

  • It is our hope, with this issue, to demonstrate that scholars working in what might be termed premodern periods [medievalists, but also early modernists] have much expertise to bring to bear upon the question of the post/human, in both its material and theoretical manifestations, and also in its implications for a future that could never be entirely free of a past that, in some ways, was more capacious and theoretically provocative in its post/humanisms and post/humanist thought than we generally allow.

    In the Middle 2009

  • With some exceptions, these two narratives - India's "premodern" religiosity, and its growing economy - are often presented as diametric opposites, simply unrelated, or the first and last points on something like a scale of modernity.

    Book Review Roundup 2010

  • With some exceptions, these two narratives - India's "premodern" religiosity, and its growing economy - are often presented as diametric opposites, simply unrelated, or the first and last points on something like a scale of modernity.

    Book Review Roundup 2010

  • In his footnote to The Philosophy of Modern Music, which Rosen comments upon, Adorno establishes a relationship — problematic, it has to be admitted — between the supposed "premodern" and "precapitalistic" character of Russian society and some "traits" of a presumed "pre" - subjectivism ‚ in the work of Mussorgsky and Dostoevsky (Adorno admired both).

    Adoring Adorno Baumeister, Thomas 2003

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