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First in order; primary; original; of earliest origin; as, primordial condition. "The primordial facts of our intelligent nature." Sir W. Hamilton.

Devotion to, or persistence in, conditions of the primordial state. H. Spencer.

At the beginning; under the first order of things; originally.

Chief; primary; primordial. [Obs.] Cudworth.

embracing the calciferous, Quebec, and Chazy epochs. This period immediately follows the primordial or Cambrian period, and is by many geologists regarded as the beginning of the Silurian age, See the Diagram, under Geology.

A genus of large trilobites characteristic of the primordial formations.

A subdivision of the Primordial or Cambrian period in American geology; -- so named from the sandstone of Potsdam, New York. See Chart of Geology.

Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire." Milton.

Primordial. [R.] Boyle.

A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.

A combining form prefix signifying first, primary, primordial; as, protomartyr, the first martyr; protomorphic, primitive in form; protoplast, a primordial organism; prototype, protozoan.