Meaning & use
prelapsarian
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounreligionformal
Relating to the time before the biblical Fall of Man, when humans were innocent and perfect.
Grammar: Used before a noun: prelapsarian world, prelapsarian innocence.
Patterns
- prelapsarian + noun
Milton's Paradise Lost describes the prelapsarian state of Adam and Eve.
Theologians debate whether the prelapsarian world included any form of suffering.
The poem evokes a prelapsarian garden where nothing ever dies.
adjectivebefore a nounliteraryfigurative
Relating to any idealized period of innocence or perfection before a corrupting event.
Grammar: Also used before a noun, often figuratively: prelapsarian era, prelapsarian society.
Patterns
- prelapsarian + noun
The novel looks back to a prelapsarian age before the war destroyed the town.
Some critics see the film as a prelapsarian fantasy of childhood.
He spoke of a prelapsarian internet, before advertising took over.
Common combinations
- prelapsarian world
- The painting depicts a prelapsarian world of harmony between humans and animals.
- prelapsarian innocence
- Her prelapsarian innocence is lost when she learns the truth.
- prelapsarian state
- The philosopher imagines a prelapsarian state before private property existed.
- prelapsarian garden
- The poem describes a prelapsarian garden that knows no decay.
Synonyms and how they differ
- innocent
- Innocent means free from guilt or wrongdoing, but it does not specifically refer to a time before a fall.
- Edenic
- Edenic means like the Garden of Eden, often suggesting perfect happiness; prelapsarian focuses on the time before the Fall.
- pristine
- Pristine means original and unspoiled, but it can describe objects or conditions, not just a period before a moral fall.
Opposites
Word family
- postlapsarian adjective
- Relating to the time after the Fall of Man.
Commonly confused: prelapsarian or postlapsarian?
prelapsarian vs postlapsarian
Postlapsarian means after the Fall, while prelapsarian means before it. The prefixes pre- and post- are key.
Practice
The poet describes a ______ landscape where no sin or sorrow exists.
Choose one answer.
Prelapsarian means before the Fall, so it fits a sinless, sorrowless landscape. Postlapsarian would mean after the Fall, which contradicts the idea of no sin.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prelapsarian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.