prehistoric
/ˌpɹiː.hɪsˈtoɹ.ɪk/
prehistoric adjective: of or relating to the epoch before written record.
Adjective
prehistoric (comparative more prehistoric, superlative most prehistoric)
- Of or relating to the epoch before written record.
- Was it then in a pre-historic time that the Romans wandered into these lands?1832 October, Foreign Quarterly Review, page 369
- The cartoon image of prehistoric woman being dragged by the hair by her caveman-husband probably conditions the perceptions of archaeologists far more than they realize.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 137
- Synonyms:
- ante-historic
- Ancient; very old, outdated, etc.
- Your idea of a woman is some one who gets on a chair and shrieks if she sees a mouse. That’s all prehistoric.1923, Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links
- Synonyms:
- antediluvian
prehistoric meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
prehistoric in Hindi
- of relating to the epoch before written record
- प्रागैतिहासिक prāgaitihāsik
prehistoric in Tamil
- வரலாற்றுக் காலத்துக்கு முற்பட்ட
prehistoric in Urdu
- قبل از تاریخی
prehistoric in Bengali
- of relating to the epoch before written record
- প্রাগৈতিহাসিক pragōitihaśik
More languagesFewer languages
- prehistoric in Malayalam
- ചരിത്രാതീതകാലത്തുള്ള, പൗരാണികമായ
- prehistoric in Kannada
- ಹಿನ್ನಡವಳಿಗೆ ಹಿಂದಿನ, ಇತಿಹಾಸ ಪೂರ್ವ
- prehistoric in Tagalog
- sinauna
- prehistoric in Arabic
- مَا قَبْلَ التَّارِيخ mā qabla t-tārīḵ
- prehistoric in Malay
- prasejarah
- prehistoric in Indonesian
- prasejarah
- prehistoric in Vietnamese
- tiền sử
Examples of prehistoric in a sentence
- Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.
- The Yellow Emperor was perhaps euhemerized from a prehistoric tribal leader.
- A feature of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other features at these sites may include small hearths.
Synonyms of prehistoric
Forms of prehistoric
| comparative | more prehistoric |
|---|---|
| superlative | most prehistoric |
| alternative form | pre-historic |
Origin of prehistoric
From pre- (“before”) + historic, q.v., similar to slightly earlier ante-historic.
Words formed from prehistoric
Phrases with prehistoric
Words that rhyme with prehistoric
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about prehistoric
- What does prehistoric mean?
- Prehistoric means of or relating to the epoch before written record.
- What is prehistoric in Hindi?
- Prehistoric in Hindi is प्रागैतिहासिक (prāgaitihāsik). See Prehistoric meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is prehistoric?
- Prehistoric is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce prehistoric?
- Prehistoric is pronounced /ˌpɹiː.hɪsˈtoɹ.ɪk/ (US).
Words near prehistoric in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prehistoric (page history and authors); prehistoric (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prehistoric (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prehistoric (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prehistoric (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-prehistoric.wav.
Cite this entry: “prehistoric.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prehistoric. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.