antediluvian
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌæn.tɪ.dɪˈluː.vɪ.ən/
ipa: /ˌæn.ti.dəˈlu.vi.ən/
ipa: /-tə-/
ipa: /ˌæn.tə(ˌ)daɪˈlu.vi.ən/
ipa: [-ɾi-]
ipa: [-ɾə-]
rhymes: -uːviən
Forms: form: more antediluvian
form: most antediluvian
form: antedeluvian
Etymology: PIE word
 *dwís
From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō (“to wash away”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder, in two’) + lavō (“to wash”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”))) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analyzable as ante- + diluvian.
Sense 2 (“long extinct”) is from the fact that such animals and plants were originally believed to have perished in the biblical flood referred to above.
Senses: examples: text: [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.
ref: 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of Methuselah”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 7th book, pages 343–344:
text: For Noah, vvho had no doubt preach'd againſt the Vices of the Antediluvian VVorld, and againſt Drunkenneſs among the reſt, muſt certainly knovv the Uſe of the Vine, and the Abuſe of it too; hovv elſe did he come to plant it at all, and to preſs the Juice out for Drinking it at all?
ref: 1727, [Daniel Defoe], “Of what Shapes the Devil Assum’d in His First Appearances to the Magicians, and Others, in the First Ages of the World; and whether He is, or has been,, Allow’d to Assume a Human Shape, or No”, in A System of Magick; or, A History of the Black Art. […], London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 95:
text: The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of the Atlantean culture / The antediluvian kings colonized the world / All the gods who play in the mythological dramas / In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis
ref: 1968 November, Donovan Leitch, “Atlantis”, in Barabajagal, performed by Donovan, New York, N.Y.: Epic Records, →OCLC:
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
synonyms: antediluvial
prediluvian
preflood
coordinate_terms: prelapsarian
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.
examples: text: [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 much more importance, a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number, perished.
ref: 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 Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 277:
text: There was an antediluvian tradition (much older than Shakespeare) that on Midsummer's Night young people should go with lanterns, and a fiddler, and a keg or two of cider, to a patch of turf known as Donkey's Green in the heart of the woods and there celebrate the solstice with dancing.
ref: 1969 November 10, John Fowles, chapter 12, in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1st US edition, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company […], →OCLC, page 90:
text: The air inside smelled antediluvian, regal somehow, with traces of pipe tobacco, tea leaves, cooking sherry, and the earthen aroma of stone architecture.
ref: 2003, Dan Brown, chapter 54, in The Da Vinci Code, [London]: BCA, published 2005, page 226:
text: If we agree with [Alan] Blinder's assessment, we must acknowledge the pressing need to inject new ideas into an old system—a system so antediluvian that it is, remarkably, still based on the agrarian calendar.
ref: 2010, Sam Chaltain, “Connect (or, Make the Connections that Let You ‘See the Whole Board’)”, in American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Education, →ISBN, page 41:
synonyms: word: prehistoric
word: ancient
word: aged
word: age-old
word: antediluvian
word: auld
word: cobwebbed
word: cobwebby
word: decrepit
word: eld
word: eldern
word: gray
word: hoary
word: moss-grown
word: old
word: old as the hills
word: old as the Pyramids
word: olden
word: older than dirt
word: older than the hills
word: older than the Pyramids
word: venerable
word: wintry
antonyms: word: elderly
glosses: Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.
examples: text: Those ideas are antediluvian.
text: If, by any miſchance, and in an evil hour, ſome country couſin, not knovving my vvays, or ſome antediluvian prig, not minding them, happen to fall upon me vvith formal ſpeeches, vvhere I can make no eſcape, a fit of yavvning takes me immediately, and I am demoliſhed for the reſt of the day.
ref: 1796, [Frances Burney], “A Chat”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. […], volume III, London: […] T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, book V, pages 78–79:
text: Portions of the ruling reflected the court's culturally conservative roots, stating that because marriage is only for reproduction, LGBTQ relationships are unnatural because they cannot produce children. […] The ruling continued in its surprisingly antediluvian rationale, invalidating untold numbers of nontraditional families.
ref: 2021 December 3, “LGBTQ Couples, Families and Marriage are ‘against the Natural Order,’ Thai Constitutional Court Rules”, in Coconuts Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand: Coconuts Media, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2023:
synonyms: word: antediluvial
word: out of the ark
word: anachronistic
word: antediluvial
word: antediluvian
word: antiquated
word: antique
word: archaic
word: backward
word: backwards
word: behind the times
word: cobwebbed
word: cobwebby
word: dated
word: defunct
word: discontinued
word: disused
word: dootsie
word: elderly
word: extinct
word: expired
word: fossilized
word: Havishamesque
word: idle
word: Miss Havishamesque
word: obsolete
word: old
word: oldfangled
word: old-fashioned
word: old school
word: outdated
word: outmoded
word: out of date
word: out of fashion
word: outworn
word: parachronistic
word: passé
word: superannuated
word: superseded
word: unemployed
word: unoccupied
word: venerable
word: workless
antonyms: word: old
glosses: Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated.
Derived terms: antediluvial
antediluvially
antediluvianism
antediluvianly
Related terms: deluge
diluvial
diluvian
diluvium
postdiluvial
postdiluvian
prediluvian