primal

1. 1.

   serving as an essential component

   “a cardinal rule”

   “the central cause of the problem”

   “an example that was fundamental to the argument”

   “computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure”

   Synonymscardinalcentralfundamentalkey

   Similarimportant
2. 2.

   having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state

   “aboriginal forests”

   “primal eras before the appearance of life on earth”

   “the forest primeval”

   “primordial matter”

   “primordial forms of life”

   Synonymsaboriginalprimevalprimaevalprimordial

   Similarearly

Other forms of primal

comparative

primaller·

superlative

primallest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about primal

What does primal mean?

primal means "serving as an essential component". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in primal?

primal has 2 syllables: pri-mal. The stress falls on "pri". In IPA it is /ˈpɹaɪməl/.

What is another word for primal?

Close synonyms include cardinal, central, fundamental, key, aboriginal. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is primal a common word?

primal is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.