1. (

• primitive ,
• primitive_person

) a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization ;

2. (

• primitive ,

) a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived ;

3. (

• primitive

) a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms; "`pick' is the primitive from which `picket' is derived" ;

1. (

• crude ,
• primitive ,
• rude

) belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness; "the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man"; "primitive movies of the 1890s"; "primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains" ;

2. (

• archaic ,
• primitive ,

) little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type; "archaic forms of life"; "primitive mammals"; "the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe" ;

3. (

• primitive

) used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies; "primitive societies" ;

4. (

• primitive ,
• naive

) of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style; "primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking" ;