prehistory

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Noun

prehistory

1. (properly) History before written records, inclusive of both
   1. The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.
   2. The study of those times.
2. (jocular, hyperbole) Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.
   • 1984, Shiva Naipaul, Beyond the Dragon's Mouth, p. 25:

     I was a town boy through and through. The country belonged to a vague pre-history.

3. (often as pre-history) The history leading up to some event, condition, etc.
   • 1931 July 25, Time & Tide, p. 893:

     Psychologists... are mostly bad historians, inventing—as Freud has done—their pre-history to suit their theories.

Synonyms

• (time before written records) prehistoric age, prehistoric times

Antonyms

• posthistory

Related terms

• prehistoric

Translations

• German: Vorzeit

Translations

• French: préhistoire
• German: Vorgeschichte, Urgeschichte
• Italian: preistoria
• Portuguese: pré-história
• Russian: предысто́рия
• Spanish: prehistoria

Translations

• German: Vorgeschichte

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