antediluvian

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an·te·di·lu·vi·an

(ăn′tĭ-də-lo͞o′vē-ən)

adj.

1. Bible Occurring or belonging to the era before the Flood.

2. Extremely old or old-fashioned. See Synonyms at old.

[From ante- + Latin dīluvium, flood; see diluvial.]

an′te·di·lu′vi·an n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

antediluvian

(ˌæntɪdɪˈluːvɪən; -daɪ-)

adj

1. (Bible) belonging to the ages before the biblical Flood (Genesis 7, 8)

2. old-fashioned or antiquated

an antediluvian person or thing

[C17: from ante- + Latin dīluvium flood]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

an•te•di•lu•vi•an

(ˌæn ti dɪˈlu vi ən)

adj.

1. of or belonging to the period before the Flood. Gen. 7, 8.

2. out of date; antiquated: antediluvian ideas.

3. an old-fashioned person or thing.

[1640–50; ante- + Latin dīluvi(um) a flood, deluge + -an¹]

antediluvian

a person who lived before the Flood. — antediluvian, adj.

antediluvian

Belonging to a time before the flood described in the Bible.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	antediluvian - any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Noachian deluge antediluvian patriarch patriarch - any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race
	2.	antediluvian - a very old person ancient golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen - an elderly person
Adj.	1.	antediluvian - of or relating to the period before the biblical flood; "antediluvian man" antediluvial
	2.	antediluvian - so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period; "a ramshackle antediluvian tenement"; "antediluvian ideas"; "archaic laws" antiquated, archaic old - of long duration; not new; "old tradition"; "old house"; "old wine"; "old country"; "old friendships"; "old money"

antediluvian

adjective old-fashioned, ancient, antique, obsolete, out-of-date, archaic, antiquated, passé, out of the ark (informal), old as the hills those antediluvian days before television

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

antediluvian

adjective

1. Belonging to, existing, or occurring in times long past:

age-old, ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, hoary, old, olden, old-time, timeworn, venerable.

Idioms: old as Methuselah, old as the hills.

2. Of, existing, or occurring in a distant period:

ancient, early, primitive.

Translations

antediluvian

[ˈæntɪdɪˈluːvɪən] ADJ (Rel, fig) → antediluviano

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

antediluvian

[ˌæntidəˈluːvɪən] adj (= outdated, archaic) [attitude, view] → antédiluvien(ne); [object] → antédiluvien(ne)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

antediluvian

[ˈæntɪdɪˈluːvɪən] adj (liter, hum) → antidiluviano/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

Not a shriek, not a scream, Scarcely even a howl or a groan, As the man they called "Ho!" told his story of woe In an antediluvian tone.

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Having already described him in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archaeological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.

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'It is an extremely proud and pleasant thing, sir, to be an antediluvian,' said the old lady.

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But go to the old Galleries, and look now at a great Christian painter's portrait of this fish; for he succeeds no better than the antediluvian Hindoo.

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Percy Northumberland Driscoll, brother to the judge, and younger than he by five years, was a married man, and had had children around his hearthstone; but they were attacked in detail by measles, croup, and scarlet fever, and this had given the doctor a chance with his effective antediluvian methods; so the cradles were empty.

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The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the outer crust.

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You are antediluvian anyway, with your Nietzsche ideas.

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But this hard body might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals; and I should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as tortoises or alligators.

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The streams were deep and slow, and there were holes of abysmal depth, where any kind and size of antediluvian monster could find a habitat.

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There was something innocent and antediluvian about that broken crock, which quite pleased me."

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The boy went, and re-appeared five minutes afterwards, struggling with an antediluvian chunk of wood, that looked as though it had been recently dug out of somewhere, and dug out carelessly, so as to have been unnecessarily damaged in the process.

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"You are right, my dear friend," he said, "yet what you say possesses, shall we call it, a somewhat antediluvian flavour.