antediluvian
Americanadjective
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of or belonging to the period before the Biblical Flood.
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very old, old-fashioned, or out of date; antiquated; primitive.
antediluvian ideas.
noun
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a person who lived before the Biblical Flood.
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a very old or old-fashioned person or thing.
adjective
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belonging to the ages before the biblical Flood (Genesis 7, 8)
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old-fashioned or antiquated
noun
Etymology
Origin of antediluvian
First recorded in 1640–50; ante- + Latin dīluvi(um) “a flood, deluge” + -an; see origin at deluge
Explanation
Antediluvian means "before the flood" — that is, the Biblical flood with Noah's ark. Generally, though, the word is used — often humorously — to describe something really, really old. In popular language, antediluvian is almost always used to exaggerate how comically, ridiculously old and out-of-date something is. You may laugh at your parents' antediluvian ideas of what's proper for going out on a date. And how about those antediluvian computers they still insist are fine! When the word was coined in the seventeenth century, however, it was meant literally. Back then, the science of reconstructing the Earth's history used the Bible as a frame of reference.
Vocabulary lists containing antediluvian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was then in charge of transportation, and his office overlooked the antediluvian Rue de Rivoli.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2023
Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the antediluvian era of web surfing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2022
So, $23.7 billion annually to renovate an antediluvian water system?
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2021
An eye-opening article by The Post’s Ian Shapira details incidents and attitudes at VMI which, though recent, seem to spring from an antediluvian campus culture and mind-set.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2020
Natural variety of intellect, the infinite hosts of personal views, and the infinitude of individual experience—which silently create new convictions—are not taken into account, and conscientious dissent seems to the antediluvian theologian an impossibility.
From Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Holyoake, George Jacob
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
