From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprimalpri‧mal /ˈpraɪməl/ adjective [only before noun] formal HBHBASICprimal feelings or actions seem to belong to a part of people’s character that is ancient and animal-like a primal fear of the unknown
Examples from the Corpus
primal• He rose and then dived within her, starting slowly as if to the beating of a primal drum.• Rubber wetsuits they regarded with distaste as contraceptive sheaths that would interfere with the primal experience.• The tableau is no longer primal feasible and one further pivot as shown. is required to achieve an optimal tableau in which.• They say that at a certain point it will stop expanding and start contracting again, back into the original primal seed.• Looking at snakes, we seem to be looking backwards in time and deep into our own primal selves.• I begin with the recovery of primal speech.• The moment I read it I knew I had found the traces of the primal spirituality I was looking for.• the primal truths of human existence• What primal urge makes these men want to ride the bull?• To others it is the wavy symbol of the primal waters attached to the cross of matter.Origin primal (1500-1600) Medieval Latin primalis, from Latin primus; → PRIME1 