medieval
part of speech
adjective (medieval)
meaning for a pupil
1) Medieval means from or about the Middle Ages, the long period in European history after the Roman times and before the modern age. tree →
2) Informally, medieval means very old-fashioned or cruel. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons, medieval times include castles, knights, kings, peasants, monks, the feudal system and the Black Death. In stories, medieval settings have swords, armour and dragons. Phrases: "medieval castle", "medieval times", "medieval knight".
examples
- We visited a medieval castle with a moat. tree →
- Medieval knights wore heavy armour. tree →
- Life in medieval villages was hard. tree →
- The town still has its medieval walls. tree →
- Monks copied books by hand in medieval times. tree →
- Our class held a medieval banquet. tree →
- Their rules are positively medieval! tree →
note
Also spelled mediaeval (older British). Pronounced med-ee-EE-val. Myth: most medieval people did not think the Earth was flat.
In the corpora
- Spices were dear in medieval Europe but not usually worth as much as gold.
- Spices were expensive in medieval Europe but not usually worth their weight in gold, and they were not used to hide rotten meat.
- Tea reached Europe in the early 1600s, so no Viking, Roman or medieval knight ever drank a cup of tea.
- Medieval people washed their hands and faces every day, and many towns had public bathhouses.
- Medieval people drank weak ale, but they also drank water from wells and springs.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «medieval» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.