■ adjective
1》 relating to or denoting the earliest times in history or stages in evolution or development.
↘of or denoting a preliterate, non-industrial society of simple organization.
↘ Biology undeveloped; rudimentary.
2》 offering an extremely basic level of comfort, convenience, or efficiency.
3》 (of behaviour or emotion) instinctive and unreasoning.
4》 of or denoting a deliberately simple and direct artistic style.
■ noun
1》 a person belonging to a ~ society.
2》 a pre-Renaissance painter, or one employing a ~ style.
3》 technical a word, expression, etc. from which others are derived.
↘ Computing any of a set of basic geometric shapes generated in computer graphics.
Derivatives
~ly adverb
~ness noun
Origin
ME: from OFr. primitif , -ive , from L. primitivus 'first of its kind', from primus 'first'.