**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌæn.ti.dəˈlu.vi.ən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌæn.tɪ.dɪˈluː.vɪ.ən/
**Frequency rank:** 104646

## Meanings
1. Extremely old-fashioned, as if from a much earlier age.
2. Belonging to the time before the great flood described in the Bible.

## Examples
- His antediluvian views on women in the workplace shocked his younger colleagues.
- The myth describes a lost antediluvian world swept away by the waters.

## Derived Forms
- antediluvial
- antediluvially
- antediluvianism
- antediluvianly

## Related Forms
- deluge
- diluvial
- diluvian
- diluvium
- postdiluvial
- postdiluvian
- prediluvian

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₂ent-
- Root: *lewh₃-

## 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…

## AI Etymology
Antediluvian is traced in the entry through 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… The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include *h₂ent- (Proto-Indo-European) and *lewh₃- (Proto-Indo-European). Current senses include extremely old-fashioned, as if from a much earlier age and belonging to the time before the great flood described in the Bible.

## Topics
- Time
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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