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 fundamental on Thesaurus.com1. indispensable, primary.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fundamentals
Contemporary Examples
Eike waved away the Cassandras and spun his dedication to “fundamentals.”
To threaten these fundamentals over a disagreement about insurance policy seems crazy to Democrats.
Over time he realized that to do the job better, he needed to know the fundamentals of the ancient divining art.
Your Future Is in the Palm of Your (Surgeon’s) HandJake Adelstein, Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky
July 12, 2013
But for practical effect, you'd be better off trying to explain the fundamentals of tensor calculus.
Also, and I hate to use the phrase, but the fundamentals of the private-sector economy are relatively strong.
Historical Examples
It is apt to take too much time from the study of the fundamentals.
College TeachingPaul Klapper
And yet in the fundamentals of character and conduct he must be unswerving.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog SledHudson Stuck
Then he had trained seven generations of students in its fundamentals.
The K-FactorHarry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)
I cannot but think that all true Christians agree in fundamentals.
My father did not attempt to touch the fundamentals of her faith.
The Promised LandMary Antin
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 fundamentals
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