Definition of "primordial" [pri•mor•di•al]

• Being or happening first in sequence of time; original. (adjective)
• Primary or fundamental: play a primordial role. (adjective)
• Biology Belonging to or characteristic of the earliest stage of development of an organism or a part: primordial cells. (adjective)
• A basic principle. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He goes back to the first link, or to what he calls primordial generation."
• "The issue was exponential growth in primordial populations."
• "Paul Davies says: "The key to existence will be found not in primordial sludge, but in the nanotechnology of the living cell.""