Antediluvian

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌæn.tɪ.dɪˈluː.vɪ.ən/

Definitions

1. Extremely old-fashioned or outdated, literally meaning from the time before the biblical flood
2. Describing something ancient or out of date in style or usage ; relating to the era before the great flood described in the Bible
3. Referring to ideas, objects, or customs that seem archaic or no longer relevant ; connected with the prehistoric period before the flood in biblical stories

Etymology: The most striking thing about this word is how little of it is about the past at all: its sense of "very old-fashioned" is a later extension of a much more literal meaning. Its core is a Latin noun, "diluvium," meaning "a flood," built from "dis-" (apart) and "lavere" (to wash), so the idea is of something washed away. The prefix "ante-" simply means "before," so the word literally means "before the flood." The flood in question is the one in the Book of Genesis, the great deluge from which Noah, his family and the animals of his ark were saved. Something "antediluvian" was therefore something that existed before that event, and the word was first used in that narrow chronological sense. The meaning then shifted. Because people once believed that many long-extinct animals and plants had perished in Noah's flood, "antediluvian" came to mean "long extinct," and from there it drifted to its modern sense of anything hopelessly outdated. A word that began as a precise description of the Bible's timeline ended up as an insult for old-fashioned opinions.

Synonyms: prehistoric, ancient, old-fashioned, outdated, archaic

Antonyms: modern, contemporary, new, recent, up-to-date