Pertaining to the beginning or origin; original; first; as the primitive state of Adam; primitive innocence; primitive ages; the primitive church; the primitive christian church or institutions; the primitive fathers.

Formal; affectedly solemn; imitating the supposed gravity of old times.

Original; primary; radical; not derived; as a primitive verb in grammar. Primitive rocks, in geology, rocks supposed to be first formed, being irregularly crystallized, and aggregated without a cement, and containing no organic remains; as granite, gneiss.

An original word; a word not derived from another.