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 • Dec. 4, 2025

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 • Oct. 24, 2022

It calls attention to the line as a fundamental unit, which in some sense always stands alone — the next line could always be anything.

From New York Times • Jan. 25, 2022

Underlying these conceptual frameworks is the recognition that the fundamental unit of the theater isn’t the performer alone but the performer in physical proximity to an audience.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 13, 2020

The gene—the fundamental unit of heredity—must also be made of subunits, he reasoned, and the structure of DNA should illuminate these subunits.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee