variants or less commonly mediaeval
1
: of, relating to, or characteristic of the Middle Ages2
: having a quality (such as cruelty) associated with the Middle Ages
3
: extremely outmoded or antiquated has medieval ideas about the role of women in our societyvariants or less commonly mediaeval
: a person of the Middle Ages
Did you know?With its roots medi-, meaning "middle", and ev-, meaning "age", medieval literally means "of the Middle Ages". In this case, middle means "between the Roman empire and the Renaissance"—that is, after the fall of the great Roman state and before the "rebirth" of culture that we call the Renaissance. This same period used to be called the "Dark Ages", since it was believed that in these years civilization all but vanished. And indeed, for most Europeans in these centuries, it was a time of poverty, famine, plague, and superstition, rather than the age of magic, dazzling swordplay, towering castles, and knights in splendid armor displayed in today's graphic novels and video games.
Word HistoryEtymology
Adjective and Noun
New Latin medium aevum Middle Ages
First Known Use
Adjective
1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun
1856, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of medieval was in 1817RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
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