prehistoric
adjUS /ˌpɹiː.hɪsˈtoɹ.ɪk/
Etymology From pre- (“before”) + historic, q.v., similar to slightly earlier ante-historic.
1
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:
2
Ancient; very old, outdated, etc.
Inexact or humorous
- 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:
- Derived terms
- nonprehistoric, prehistoric age, prehistorically
- Related terms
- prehistory, precontact