Basic English

American  

noun

1. a simplified form of English restricted to an 850-word vocabulary and a few rules of grammar, intended especially as an international auxiliary language and for use in teaching English as a foreign language: devised by Charles Kay Ogden.

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basic English British  

noun

1. a simplified form of English, proposed by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, containing a vocabulary of approximately 850 of the commonest English words, intended as an international language

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Etymology

Origin of Basic English

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

By cutting and simplifying Plato's far-from-Basic Greek, the Dialogues have been brought over into something very like Basic English.

From Time Magazine Archive

Its most eloquent sponsor asked that Basic English be spread worldwide by British propaganda, diplomatic and commercial agents.

From Time Magazine Archive

In far from Basic English, Winston Churchill gave Basic another boost,* this time in the House of Commons.

From Time Magazine Archive

Arthur Brisbane, journalism's Basic English eminence, then on the New York World, put Harriet to work as a columnist.

From Time Magazine Archive

You say the letter accompanying the first deposit, the one in Basic English, was apparently taken away by Kettle-Belly Sam Bonney.

From Lone Star Planet by Piper, H. Beam