pre-Adamite

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˌpriːˈæd.ə.maɪt/ UK /ˌpriːˈæd.ə.maɪt/ See IPA manual

Freq #978734

Meanings

1

noun
a hypothetical person or member of a race believed to have existed before the biblical Adam

The treatise argued that ancient fossils belonged to a pre-Adamite race.
2

noun
a believer in a doctrine that human beings existed before Adam

The theologian was denounced as a pre-Adamite for rejecting a single biblical ancestry.
3

adj
existing before Adam or imagined as belonging to a prehuman world

The empty landscape seemed pre-Adamite, untouched by any human presence.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a hypothetical person or... pre-Adamic person

2 noun · a believer in a doctrine... pre-Adamite theorist

3 adj · existing before adam or... pre-Adamicprehuman

Opposites

post-Adamic

Word family

Derived forms pre-Adamitismpre-Adamiticpre-Adamic

Related forms AdamIsaac La Peyrerebiblical chronologypolygenism

Etymology

From New Latin praeadamita, combining Latin prae-, 'before,' with Adam + -ite. Seventeenth-century writer Isaac La Peyrere made pre-Adamite theory influential by arguing that peoples existed before Adam. Later uses range from historical theology and racial speculation to a loose literary adjective meaning primeval or prehuman.

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# pre-Adamite

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌpriːˈæd.ə.maɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌpriːˈæd.ə.maɪt/
**Frequency rank:** 978734

## Meanings
1. a hypothetical person or member of a race believed to have existed before the biblical Adam
2. a believer in a doctrine that human beings existed before Adam
3. existing before Adam or imagined as belonging to a prehuman world

## Examples
- The treatise argued that ancient fossils belonged to a pre-Adamite race.
- The theologian was denounced as a pre-Adamite for rejecting a single biblical ancestry.
- The empty landscape seemed pre-Adamite, untouched by any human presence.

## Synonyms
- pre-Adamic
- prehuman

## Antonyms
- post-Adamic

## Derived Forms
- pre-Adamitism
- pre-Adamitic
- pre-Adamic

## Related Forms
- Adam
- Isaac La Peyrere
- biblical chronology
- polygenism

## Etymology
From New Latin praeadamita, combining Latin prae-, 'before,' with Adam + -ite. Seventeenth-century writer Isaac La Peyrere made pre-Adamite theory influential by arguing that peoples existed before Adam. Later uses range from historical theology and racial speculation to a loose literary adjective meaning primeval or prehuman.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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