rudimentary
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to rudiments or first principles; elementary.
a rudimentary knowledge of geometry.
- Synonyms:
- initial, fundamental
- Antonyms:
- advanced
-
Biology. of the nature of a rudiment; undeveloped or vestigial.
- Synonyms:
- embryonic
- Antonyms:
- mature
-
in an early, imperfect stage or form.
How can we improve upon this admittedly rudimentary theory?
adjective
-
basic; fundamental; not elaborated or perfected
-
incompletely developed; vestigial
rudimentary leaves
Synonym Usage
See elementary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rudimentary
Explanation
Rudimentary means basic, or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials. The word rude means simple or offensive — and people with only rudimentary understanding of good manners might not know how that belching is rude. If you remember that the word rude is the foundation of rudimentary, you'll have a rudimentary understanding of the word.
Vocabulary lists containing rudimentary
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 4
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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.
He loved the rudimentary males he found embedded in the females of one particular species—precisely the kind of weird transitional form his theory of evolution would depend upon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Even their directors’ rudimentary visual aesthetics are monotonous.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
He would steal ad posters, paint over them with rudimentary cartoon skulls with X’ed-out eyes in pastel colors, then carefully replace them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Around a dozen are close to completion while others sit with the logos of the shipping companies still visible on the outside, rudimentary windows cut out of the sides.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Then, in 1986, pushing forty, he took a vacation in Colorado, felt the siren song of the heights, and enrolled in a rudimentary mountaineering course in Rocky Mountain National Park.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
