PREADAMITE, a denomination given to the inhabitants of the earth, conceived, by some people, to have lived before Adam.
Isaac de la Pereyra, in 1655, published a book to evince the reality of Preadamites, by which he gained a considerable number of proselytes to the opinion; but the answer of Desmaret, professor of theology at Gröningen, published the year following, put a stop to its progress, though Pereyra made a reply.