: of or relating to the period before the flood described in the Bible
2
a
: made, evolved, or developed a long time ago
an antediluvian automobile
that antediluvian relic known as a slide rule
b
: extremely primitive or outmoded
an antediluvian prejudice
antediluvian in his politics
antediluviannoun
Did you know?
Before there was antediluvian, there were the Latin words ante (meaning "before") and diluvium (meaning "flood"). In the 1600s, English speakers were using antediluvian to describe conditions they believed existed before the great flood described in the biblical account of Noah and the ark. By the early 1700s, the word had come to be used as both an adjective and a noun referring to anything or anyone prodigiously old. Naturalist Charles Darwin used it to characterize the mighty "antediluvian trees" some prehistoric mammals might have used as a food source, and in his American Notes, Charles Dickens described an elderly lady who informed him, "It is an extremely proud and pleasant thing … to be an antediluvian."
He has antediluvian notions about the role of women in the workplace. found evidence in the Middle East of an antediluvian people previously unknown to history
Recent Examples on the WebOf all the units that measure all the things, Scoville heat units have got to be the most antediluvian. Tamar Haspel, Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022 The Untouchables, is now an antediluvian fantasy of a bygone America and FBI. Armond White, National Review, 12 Aug. 2022 Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the antediluvian era of web surfing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator. Richard Jacobsen, Anchorage Daily News, 15 June 2022 Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the antediluvian era of web surfing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator.CBS News, 15 June 2022 Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the antediluvian era of web surfing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator. Richard Jacobsen, Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2022 In the antediluvian times of 2016, Los Angeles’s new stadium had been picked to host last year’s Super Bowl. Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 8 Feb. 2022 Their complicated and antediluvian fruitcake recipe was handwritten on a document that was battered by time and annual refolding. Jacques Kelly, baltimoresun.com, 25 Dec. 2021 After all, the arrangement Nagel has with his baby mamas is arguably not just regressive but antediluvian. Stephanie H. Murray, The Week, 23 Dec. 2021 See More