prelapsarian

adj.

Of or relating to the period before the fall of Adam and Eve.

[PRE– + Latin lāpsus, fall; see lapse + –ARIAN.]

Nicholas Kristof reached back to the dawn of time with his battle cry for liberals to take on questions of religion, meanwhile contributing a top Alt-Click:

"The squeamishness about sexuality led the church into such absurdities as a debate about 'prelapsarian sex': the question of whether Adam and Eve might have slept together in the Garden of Eden."

Link: Liberal Bible-Thumping

Posted May 16, 2005.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

of or relating to the time before the fall of mankind