fundamental

[fuhn-duh-men-tl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fundamental ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

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.

noun

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.

Origin of fundamental

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin fundāmentālis of, belonging to a foundation. See fundament, -al¹

Related formsfun·da·men·tal·i·ty, fun·da·men·tal·ness, nounfun·da·men·tal·ly, adverbnon·fun·da·men·tal, adjective, nounnon·fun·da·men·tal·ly, adverbun·fun·da·men·tal, adjectiveun·fun·da·men·tal·ly, adverb

Synonyms for fundamental

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fundamental ON THESAURUS.COM

1. indispensable, primary.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fundamentals

foundation, basics, basis

Examples from the Web for fundamentals

Contemporary Examples of fundamentals

Eike waved away the Cassandras and spun his dedication to “fundamentals.”
The Rise And Fall Of Brazilian Billionaire Eike Batista
Mac Margolis
November 9, 2013
To threaten these fundamentals over a disagreement about insurance policy seems crazy to Democrats.
Republicans Against the Republic
Lawrence Lessig
October 3, 2013
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) Hand
Jake Adelstein, Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky
July 12, 2013
But for practical effect, you'd be better off trying to explain the fundamentals of tensor calculus.
Why Not Make Social Security Benefits Even More Generous
Megan McArdle
March 8, 2013
Also, and I hate to use the phrase, but the fundamentals of the private-sector economy are relatively strong.
Why the GDP Drop is No Big Deal
Daniel Gross
January 30, 2013

Historical Examples of fundamentals

It is apt to take too much time from the study of the fundamentals.
College Teaching
Paul Klapper
And yet in the fundamentals of character and conduct he must be unswerving.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled
Hudson Stuck
Then he had trained seven generations of students in its fundamentals.
The K-Factor
Harry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)
I cannot but think that all true Christians agree in fundamentals.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917
Various
My father did not attempt to touch the fundamentals of her faith.
The Promised Land
Mary Antin

British Dictionary definitions for fundamentals

fundamental

adjective

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

noun

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

Derived Formsfundamentality or fundamentalness, noun

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.