pre-modern
Prior to modernity
Pre-modern describes the period before the modern era, or things characteristic of that time.
The boundary varies by field—in history, often the Renaissance or Enlightenment; in architecture, before 20th-century movements.
Pre-modern societies lacked industrialization, mass media, and secular governance: pre-modern medicine, pre-modern assumptions about gender.
The term implies contrast with contemporary conditions.
Of the Middle Ages
- ancientVery old indeed
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
- feudalOf tiered landownership
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
classical · Middle Ages · preindustrial · agrarian · monarchical · dynastic · traditional · archaic
Created manually, not mechanically
- artisanalMade by skilled craftspeople
- manualWritten instructions for use
- watermillRiver-driven grinding facility
- windmillRotating structure harnessing air
blacksmith · forge · loom · spindle · plow · oxcart · sailship · candlelit
Of a clan
- communalShared by a community
- hierarchicalOrganized by rank
- casteInherited social division
- patriarchalMale-authority based
village · kinship · clan · guild · serfdom · peasantry · aristocracy · nobility
Relating to formal learning
- metaphysicalBeyond the material realm
- theologicalOf divine study
- cosmologicalRelating to universe's origin/structure
- teleologicalConcerning ultimate purpose
Aristotelian · Platonic · Confucian · mystical · animist · sacred · providential · cyclical
medieval
Of the Middle Ages
Renaissance · classical · Middle Ages · preindustrial · agrarian · monarchical · dynastic · traditional · archaic · prehistoric
handmade
Created manually, not mechanically
- artisanalMade by skilled craftspeople
- manualWritten instructions for use
- watermillRiver-driven grinding facility
windmill · blacksmith · forge · loom · spindle · plow · oxcart · sailship · candlelit · sundial
tribal
Of a clan
- communalShared by a community
- hierarchicalOrganized by rank
- casteInherited social division
patriarchal · village · kinship · clan · guild · serfdom · peasantry · aristocracy · nobility · feudalism
scholastic
Relating to formal learning
- metaphysicalBeyond the material realm
- theologicalOf divine study
- cosmologicalRelating to universe's origin/structure
teleological · Aristotelian · Platonic · Confucian · mystical · animist · sacred · providential · cyclical · holistic
- tech erasStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, information age, digital age
pre-modernmodern
Of recent times
contemporary · postmodern · current · present-day · post-industrial
pre-modernmodern
Of recent times
industrialized · modernized · developed · advanced · technological
pre-modernmodern
Of recent times
secular · rationalist · scientific · Enlightenment · empirical