fundamental unit

British  

noun

1. one of a set of unrelated units that form the basis of a system of units. For example, the metre, kilogram, and second are fundamental units of the SI system

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Example Sentences

The billable hour as the fundamental unit of business for professional services is so widespread that it’s difficult to remember that it is a fairly recent innovation, becoming prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s.

From The Wall Street Journal

He makes the case that, while human brains are marvels of complexity, their fundamental unit, the neuron, isn’t so different from that of sea slugs.

From The Wall Street Journal

Scientists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst have adapted a device called a microwave circulator for use in quantum computers, allowing them for the first time to precisely tune the exact degree of nonreciprocity between a qubit, the fundamental unit of quantum computing, and a microwave-resonant cavity.

From Science Daily

At present, the Constitution says: “The state recognizes the family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.”

From New York Times

Mukherjee recounts the beginnings of cell theory among 19th-century European scientists and the growing consensus that the cell is the fundamental unit of life in plants and animals.

From Washington Post