fundamental
Americanadjective
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serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying.
fundamental principles;
the fundamental structure.
- Synonyms:
- primary, indispensable
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of, relating to, or affecting the foundation or basis.
a fundamental revision.
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being an original or primary source.
a fundamental idea.
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Music. (of a chord) having its root as its lowest note.
noun
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a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system; essential part.
to master the fundamentals of a trade.
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Also called fundamental tone. Also called fundamental note,. Music.
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the root of a chord.
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the generator of a series of harmonics.
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Physics. the component of lowest frequency in a composite wave.
adjective
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of, involving, or comprising a foundation; basic
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of, involving, or comprising a source; primary
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music denoting or relating to the principal or lowest note of a harmonic series
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of or concerned with the component of lowest frequency in a complex vibration
noun
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a principle, law, etc, that serves as the basis of an idea or system
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the principal or lowest note of a harmonic series
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the bass note of a chord in root position
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Also called: fundamental frequency. first harmonic. physics
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the component of lowest frequency in a complex vibration
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the frequency of this component
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Other Word Forms
- fundamentality noun
- fundamentally adverb
- fundamentalness noun
- nonfundamental adjective
- nonfundamentally adverb
- unfundamental adjective
- unfundamentally adverb
Etymology
Origin of fundamental
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin fundāmentālis “of, belonging to a foundation”; fundament, -al 1
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.
These common particles are composed of three quarks, which are fundamental building blocks of matter.
From Barron's
The fundamentals of the rules won't change, but it's recognised that some areas can be tweaked to reduce some of the bigger compromises.
From BBC
The advance, reported in Physical Review Letters, could improve the precision of observations that probe fundamental physics.
From Science Daily
"Secure English Language Testing is a fundamental part of the UK's immigration system," said a spokesman.
From BBC
A token is the fundamental unit of data used to process a query and produce a response.
Definitions 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.
