Antediluvian

The name given to the time before the flood during Noah's lifetime. As an adjective, which literally means “before the flood [deluge],” it refers to a significant time in biblical history. As a noun, “antediluvians” refers to the people who lived in that time. Toward the end of the antediluvian period, society was described as being very evil. So, according to the Bible, God commanded their destruction by the flood. See Flood, The.