foundational

American

[foun-dey-shuh-nl] / faʊnˈdeɪ ʃə nl /

Rarely foundationary

adjective

of or relating to the basis or groundwork on which something rests or is built; needing to be understood or established at the beginning.

We believe that fostering a strong local community is a foundational component of our inner-city scholarship program, guiding everything else we do.

Other Word Forms

foundationally adverb

Etymology

Origin of foundational

foundation ( def. ) + -al ¹ ( def. )

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.

"The 1949 act was really helpful and foundational but there was more to be done after that," says Kate.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

Coachella’s foundational art scene had a DIY aesthetic, with early pieces including trash cans, alien sculptures and a Tesla coil.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

SpaceX merged with xAI in February, accelerating Musk’s plans to turn SpaceX into an AI giant capable of running data centers and developing foundational AI models and applications.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

“There were a lot of foundational traumas with my parents.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

In this sense, statistics is to probability as engineering is to physics—an applied science based on a more intellectually stimulating foundational discipline.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023