antedeluvian

Adjective

antediluvian (comparative more antediluvian, superlative most antediluvian)

1. Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.
   • [P]erhaps ſome perſons might outlive Methuſelah; the Text intending onely the maſculine line of Seth, conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian Chronology.1646, Thomas Browne, “Of Methuselah”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 7th book, pages 343–344

   Synonyms:

   antediluvial, prediluvian, preflood

   Antonyms:

   postdiluvial, postdiluvian

2. (broadly) Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.
   • Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Fossil Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 506
3. (excessive, figuratively, humorous) Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.
   • [H]is eldest son Bo-bo, […] let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building, you may think it), what was of...1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “A Dissertation upon a Roast Pig”, in Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and...

   Synonyms:

   prehistoric, ancient, aged, age-old, auld, cobwebbed, cobwebby, decrepit, eld, eldern

   Antonyms:

   baby-faced, juvenile, hebetic, young, youngling, youngly, youngsome, youngthly, youthful, youthly

4. (excessive, figuratively, humorous) Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated.
   • Those ideas are antediluvian.

   Synonyms:

   antediluvial, out of the ark, anachronistic, antiquated, antique, archaic, backward, backwards, behind the times, cobwebbed

   Antonyms:

   new, all-new, brand new, brand spanking new, cherry, fresh, freshly made, green, hot, mint

See all 7 meanings of antediluvian