Word
medieval
Phoneticsme·dieval
US/miˈdivəɫ/
UK/mˈɛdɪˌiːvəl/
UK spelling · mediaeval
Definitions
01historical period
adj. relating to the Middle Ages, the period in European history from about 500 to 1500 AD.
adj. relating to the Middle Ages, the historical period spanning roughly the 5th to the 15th centuries.
“The city is famous for its beautiful medieval cathedral and narrow streets.”
“Scholars often debate the precise transition points between the medieval period and the early modern era in different European regions.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
02old-fashioned or cruel
adj. very old-fashioned, primitive, or sometimes very cruel.
adj. resembling the Middle Ages in being primitive, archaic, or characterized by extreme cruelty or lack of enlightenment.
“The prison conditions were described as medieval by the human rights group.”
“The critic dismissed the new policy as medieval, arguing that it ignored decades of progress in social science and ethics.”
Informal
03a person from that time
n. a person who lived during the Middle Ages.
n. a person belonging to or living during the Middle Ages.
“The historian studied how medievals understood the concept of time.”
“To understand the text, one must consider the worldview of the medievals who originally composed and transcribed it.”
Academic · Formal
Real-World Examples
“The fragments of medieval text had all been hidden in plain sight, reused centuries ago as covers for early modern notebooks.” “Six hundred years after it was built, England’s largest surviving medieval timber-framed barn could now be “shaken to pieces” by aircraft vibrations, campaigners warn.” “But in my 2026 book, “ Strikingly Similar ,” I explore how, throughout the medieval period, the Renaissance and into the early modern era, an ethos of “imitatio” prevailed .” “During a medieval siege, a trebuchet scored a chance hit on an unlucky defender.”