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One who holds that men existed before Adam.

Existing or occurring before Adam; preadamic; as, preadamitic periods.

Happening, arriving, existing, or performed before the proper or usual time; adopted too soon; too early; untimely; as, a premature fall of snow; a premature birth; a premature opinion; premature decay.

Now existing, or in process; begun but not ended; now in view, or under consideration; being at this time; not past or future; as, the present session of Congress; the present state of affairs; the present instance. I'll bring thee to the present business Shak.

-- Presumption of fact (Law), an argument of a fact from a fact; an inference as to the existence of one fact not certainly known, from the existence of some other fact known or proved, founded on a previous experience of their connection; supposition of the truth or real existence of something, without direct or pos…

quality or condition of being prevalent; superior strength, force, or influence; general existence, reception, or practice; wide extension; as, the prevalence of virtue, of a fashion, or of a disease; the prevalence of a rumor. The duke better knew what kind of argument were of prevalence with him. Clarendon.…

lly received or current; most widely adopted or practiced; also, generally or extensively existing; widespread; prevailing; as, a prevalent observance; prevalent disease. This was the most received and prevalent opinion. Woodward.

m: [L. See Prorate.] In proportion; proportion. -- Pro re nata Etym: [L.] (Law), for the existing occasion; as matters are.

Bringing into being; causing to exist; producing; originative; as, an age productive of great men; a spirit productive of heroic achievements. And kindle with thy own productive fire. Dryden. This is turning nobility into a principle of virtue, and making it productive of merit. Spectator.

contains both male and female reproductive organs, and is capable of a brief independent existence.

nal; also, proportional; proportionate. -- Pro*por"tion*a*ble*ness, n. But eloquence may exist without a proportionable degree of wisdom. Burke. Proportionable, which is no longer much favored, was of our [i. e., English writers'] own coining. Fitzed. Hall.

erposes an oblique allegation or denial of some fact, protesting that it does or does not exist, and at the same time avoiding a direct affirmation or denial.

agencies intervening. -- Proximate principle (Physiol. Chem.), one of a class of bodies existing ready formed in animal and vegetable tissues, and separable by chemical analysis, as albumin, sugar, collagen, fat, etc.

The doctrine of the merely human existence of Christ.

ted to a point; unextended. [R.] "This punctual spot." Milton. The theory of the punctual existence of the soul. Krauth.

ation after death; according to the Roman Catholic creed, a place, or a state believed to exist after death, in which the souls of persons are purified by expiating such offenses committed in this life as do not merit eternal damnation, or in which they fully satisfy the justice of God for sins that have been forgiven.…

o bring to a position or place; to place; to lay; to set; figuratively, to cause to be or exist in a specified relation, condition, or the like; to bring to a stated mental or moral condition; as, to put one in fear; to put a theory in practice; to put an enemy to fight. This present dignity, In which that I have put y…

ational security, the feeling of patriotism . . . is so quiescent that it seems hardly to exist. Prof. Wilson.

Actually being or existing; not fictitious or imaginary; as, a description of real life. Whereat I waked, and found Before mine eyes all real, as the dream Had lively shadowed. Milton.

opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions. According to realism the Universal exists ante rem (Plato), or in re (Aristotle).