Library / English Dictionary |
MEDIEVAL
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
As if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened
Example:
a medieval attitude toward dating
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
nonmodern (not modern; of or characteristic of an earlier time)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages
Example:
the knightly years
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
past (earlier than the present time; no longer current)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Relating to or belonging to the Middle Ages
Example:
Medieval times
Synonyms:
mediaeval; medieval
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)
Context examples:
The mysterious disappearance of Greenland’s Norse colonies sometime in the 15th century may have been down to the overexploitation of walrus populations for their tusks, according to a study of medieval artefacts from across Europe.
(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)
At the same instant I heard the crash of Lord John's elephant-gun, and, looking up, saw one of the creatures with a broken wing struggling upon the ground, spitting and gurgling at us with a wide-opened beak and blood-shot, goggled eyes, like some devil in a medieval picture.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Having dated the eruption, the researchers found that Iceland’s most celebrated medieval poem, which describes the end of the pagan gods and the coming of a new, singular god, describes the eruption and uses memories of it to stimulate the Christianisation of Iceland.
(Volcanic eruption influenced Iceland’s conversion to Christianity, University of Cambridge)