Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ANTEDILUVIAN
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pronounce
ANTEDILUVIAN:
Say it "AN tee duh LOO vee un."
To hear it, click here.
When you have a word with tons of vowels, some people will relax some of those vowels into "uh," meaning that we end up with lots of different acceptable pronunciations. I recommend the one above because it's pretty relaxed, but it also makes it clear that we mean "ante-," before, and not "anti-," against.
(Now, on the extremely rare occasion when you need a joke-y word meaning "anti-flooding" or "anti-water," you can pronounce this word "anti-diluvian," like Elton John does in the song "Sixteenth Century Man." Hilarious!)
connect this word to others:
Pluck the word antediluvian in half, so you can glimpse its Latin bits: ante-, meaning "before;" and diluvium, meaning "flood."
Then, you can see how it's related to other words about prior things (like ante_____, "before the war") and to other words about floods and waters (like d_lu__, "a powerful flood, or to drown something").
Could you recall both of those words with blanks?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
This word has Latin roots that mean "before a flood."
We coined it back in the 1600s, using those Latin roots, so that we could describe things that happened before the biblical Flood. You know the one: from the book of Genesis, with Noah building the ark so that he, his family, and all the animals could survive the Flood that would kill everyone else.
So, something antediluvian, literally speaking, is related to the period before that Flood in the Bible. As in, "antediluvian history," or "the antediluvian prophets."
And figuratively speaking, something antediluvian is prehistoric, or extremely old-fashioned.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: adjective: "that antediluvian rule," "their attitude is antediluvian."
Other forms:
You can also use this word as a noun: you can refer to very old-fashioned people as antediluvians.
If you need an adverb, use "antediluvially." (Does that mean "antediluvial" is an alternate to "antediluvian"? Yup! It's just rare.)
how to use it:
This word gives us a fun way to exaggerate: to say that something is so old, or so out of fashion, that it belongs in the oldest chapter of one of the oldest books around: the Bible.
So, talk about antediluvian laws, norms, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, expectations, social systems, etc.
examples:
"By 2050, not just the idea of 'a job for life', but even the idea of 'a profession for life' might seem antediluvian."
— Yuval Noah Harari, Nature, 17 October 2017
"Our ICT curriculum has become dysfunctional... it really does matter. The current curriculum undermines the authority of the education system by revealing to tech-savvy children how antediluvian it is."
— John Naughton, The Guardian, 27 August 2011
has this page helped you understand "antediluvian"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "antediluvian" without saying "primeval" or "older than dirt."
try it out:
A writer for the Wall Street Journal slammed broadcast networks like CBS, saying they have only a "lingering, antediluvian significance in the minds of politicians and regulators."
Harsh words!
In your opinion, what else, besides the old-fashioned broadcast network, is still around today but seems antediluvian to you?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is "Caption These!"
In each issue this month, caption the images below (A, B, and C) by matching them to the vocabulary words they illustrate (1, 2, and 3). Need a closer look? Give the images a click. And, if you can, explain the exact meaning of each word. I'll share the answers in the following issue. Good luck!
From the previous issue:
Answers:
A: chrysalis, B: keystone, C: fulcrum.
(To review a word, give it a click.)
Try these today:
1: oblivious
2: pinchbeck
3: mottled
review this word:
A. NASCENT (very new).
B. EMINENT (very famous).
C. DESPONDENT (very sad).
2. Speaking to graduates, Bret Stephens, who's known for arguing that _____, poked fun at himself when he said, "In case you're wondering, my opinions are just as...antediluvian as they've always been."
A. climate change isn't a problem
B. society can eventually abolish its prisons
C. we ought to elect Weird Al Yankovic to the presidency
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Pluck the word antediluvian in half, so you can glimpse its Latin bits: ante-, meaning "before;" and diluvium, meaning "flood."
This word has Latin roots that mean "before a flood."
So, something antediluvian, literally speaking, is related to the period before that Flood in the Bible. As in, "antediluvian history," or "the antediluvian prophets."
Part of speech: adjective: "that antediluvian rule," "their attitude is antediluvian."
This word gives us a fun way to exaggerate: to say that something is so old, or so out of fashion, that it belongs in the oldest chapter of one of the oldest books around: the Bible.
"By 2050, not just the idea of 'a job for life', but even the idea of 'a profession for life' might seem antediluvian."
Explain the meaning of "antediluvian" without saying "primeval" or "older than dirt."
A writer for the Wall Street Journal slammed broadcast networks like CBS, saying they have only a "lingering, antediluvian significance in the minds of politicians and regulators."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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