primary qualities
Britishplural noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This bus has primary qualities of solidity and space occupancy that exist independently of our perceptual machinery and that can do us injury.
From Scientific American • Aug. 27, 2019
Even our knowledge of the persistence of force and of the primary qualities of matter is but of relative significance.
From A Candid Examination of Theism by Romanes, George John
Thus, in all cases, scientific explanation depends upon knowledge of forms; all phenomena or secondary qualities are accounted for by being referred to the primary qualities of matter.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" by Various
Some primary qualities of his genius are pretty evenly balanced by some primary faults.
From Views and Reviews Essays in appreciation by Henley, William Ernest
In this philosophy of nature each element or simple body is a combination of a pair of the four primary qualities that informs inchoate matter.
From The Natural Philosophy of William Gilbert and His Predecessors by King, W. James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
