fundamental
[fuhn-duh-men-tl]
- serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure.
- of, relating to, or affecting the foundation or basis: a fundamental revision.
- being an original or primary source: a fundamental idea.
- Music. (of a chord) having its root as its lowest note.
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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.
- Also called fundamental note, fundamental tone. Music.
- the root of a chord.
- the generator of a series of harmonics.
- Physics. the component of lowest frequency in a composite wave.
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Origin of fundamental
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fundamentally
Contemporary Examples
“It fundamentally changes the architecture of forest canopies,” says Watson.
Complementarity also means, of course, than men and women are fundamentally different.
The two-state solution, if implemented, fundamentally discredits the whole concept of a conspiracy against Islam.
And these initiatives represent an effort to fundamentally rethink our landscape.
But surely expanding reproductive choice is fundamentally feminist.
Historical Examples
I still remain the sinner, fundamentally and potentially at every step the sinner.
The Prodigal ReturnsLilian Staveley
Fundamentally, all education is proceeding on a false principle.
The Curse of EducationHarold E. Gorst
And yet he remained simple, unaffected, and fundamentally kind.
A Great ManArnold Bennett
No, it was not bitterness, precisely, for it was fundamentally as impersonal as criticism can be.
He was fundamentally an Egyptian god, and the most popular of the deities of the Nile.
The Oriental Religions in Roman PaganismFranz Cumont
fundamentally
- in a way that affects the basis or essentials; utterlythe terms of engagement have been fundamentally altered
- (sentence modifier) in essence; at heartfundamentally, we want our lives to be safe
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fundamental
- of, involving, or comprising a foundation; basic
- of, involving, or comprising a source; primary
- music denoting or relating to the principal or lowest note of a harmonic series
- of or concerned with the component of lowest frequency in a complex vibration
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- a principle, law, etc, that serves as the basis of an idea or system
- the principal or lowest note of a harmonic series
- the bass note of a chord in root position
- Also called: fundamental frequency, first harmonic physics
- the component of lowest frequency in a complex vibration
- the frequency of this component
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fundamentally
adv.
c.1600, from fundamental + -ly (2).
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fundamental
adj.
mid-15c., "primary, original, pertaining to a foundation," modeled on Late Latin fundamentalis "of the foundation," from Latin fundamentum "foundation" (see fundament). Fundamentals "primary principles or rules" of anything is from 1630s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper