primary

American  

[prahy-mer-ee, -muh-ree] / ˈpraɪ mɛr i, -mə ri /

adjective

1. 

   first or highest in rank or importance; chief; principal.

   his primary goals in life.

   Synonyms:

   prime, main

   Antonyms:

   last

2. first in order in any series, sequence, etc.

   Antonyms:

   final, last

3. first in time; earliest; primitive.

   Synonyms:

   primeval, original

4. of, relating to, or characteristic of primary school.

   the primary grades.

5. constituting or belonging to the first stage in any process.

   Synonyms:

   opening, beginning

6. of the nature of the ultimate or simpler constituents of which something complex is made up.

   Animals have a few primary instincts.

7. 1. original; not derived or subordinate; fundamental; basic.

   2. (in scholarly studies) pertaining to or being a firsthand account, original data, etc., or based on direct knowledge, as in

8. immediate or direct, or not involving intermediate agency.

   primary perceptions.

9. Sociology. (of social values or ideals) conceived as derived from the primary group and culturally defined as being necessary to the welfare of the individual and society.

10. Ornithology. pertaining to any of the set of flight feathers situated on the distal segment of a bird's wing.

11. Electricity. noting or pertaining to the circuit, coil, winding, or current that induces current in secondary windings in an induction coil, transformer, or the like.

12. Chemistry.

    1. involving or obtained by replacement of one atom or group.

    2. noting or containing a carbon atom united to no other or to only one other carbon atom in a molecule.

13. Grammar.

    1. (of a derivative) having a root or other unanalyzable element as the underlying form.

       The word "dole" is a primary derivative formed by modification of "deal," and "phonograph" is a primary derivative from "phono-" and "-graph."

    2. (of Latin, Greek, Sanskrit tenses) having reference to present or future time.

---

noun

• primaries
  plural

1. something that is first in order, rank, or importance.

2. U.S. Politics.

   1. Also called primary election.  a preliminary election in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office, party officers, etc.

   2. a meeting of the voters of a political party in an election district for nominating candidates for office, choosing delegates for a convention, etc.; caucus.

3. primary color.

4. Ornithology. a primary feather.

5. Electricity. a winding in a transformer or the like that carries a current and that induces a current in secondary windings.

6. Astronomy.

   1. a body in relation to a smaller body or smaller bodies revolving around it, as a planet in relation to its satellites.

   2. the brighter of the two stars comprising a double star.

verb (used with object)

primaried, primarying

1. U.S. Politics. to challenge or oppose (the incumbent) in a primary election, usually for strong ideological reasons (often used in passive constructions).

   The congressman was primaried by a more conservative candidate.

verb (used without object)

primaried, primarying

1. U.S. Politics. to run as a candidate in a primary election.

primary British  

/ ˈpraɪmərɪ /

adjective

1. first in importance, degree, rank, etc

2. first in position or time, as in a series

3. fundamental; basic

4. being the first stage; elementary

5. (prenominal) of or relating to the education of children up to the age of 11

6. (of the flight feathers of a bird's wing) growing from the manus

7. 1. being the part of an electric circuit, such as a transformer or induction coil, in which a changing current induces a current in a neighbouring circuit

      a primary coil

   2. (of a current) flowing in such a circuit Compare secondary

8. 1. (of a product) consisting of a natural raw material; unmanufactured

   2. (of production or industry) involving the extraction or winning of such products. Agriculture, fishing, forestry, hunting, and mining are primary industries Compare secondary tertiary

9. chem

   1. (of an organic compound) having a functional group attached to a carbon atom that is attached to at least two hydrogen atoms

   2. (of an amine) having only one organic group attached to the nitrogen atom; containing the group NH 2

   3. (of a salt) derived from a tribasic acid by replacement of one acidic hydrogen atom with a metal atom or electropositive group

10. linguistics

    1. derived from a word that is not a derivation but the ultimate form itself. Lovable is a primary derivative of love

    2. (of Latin, Greek, or Sanskrit tenses) referring to present or future time Compare historic

11. geology relating to magmas that have not experienced fractional crystallization or crystal contamination

---

noun

1. a person or thing that is first in rank, occurrence, etc

2. Full name: primary election. 

   1. a preliminary election in which the voters of a state or region choose a party's convention delegates, nominees for office, etc See also closed primary direct primary open primary

   2. a local meeting of voters registered with one party to nominate candidates, select convention delegates, etc

3. See primary colour

4. any of the flight feathers growing from the manus of a bird's wing

5. a primary coil, winding, inductance, or current in an electric circuit

6. astronomy a celestial body around which one or more specified secondary bodies orbit

   the sun is the primary of the earth

primary Scientific  

/ prī′mĕr′ē /

1. Relating to a primary color.

2. Relating to plant tissues or growth derived from the apical meristem in the tips of roots and shoots, whose cells divide and elongate to cause the plant to grow lengthwise.

3. 1. Relating to or having a carbon atom that is attached to only one other carbon atom in a molecule.

   2. Relating to an organic molecule, such as an alcohol, in which the functional group is attached to a primary carbon. A primary alcohol, for example, has the hydroxyl (OH) group attached to the last carbon in a chain.

4. 1. Arising first and spontaneously, as a disease, disorder, or tumor, and not as a result of a known medical condition or injury.

   2. Relating to the first set of teeth that develops in humans.

5. Relating to the initial medical care given by a healthcare provider to a patient, especially in a setting of ambulatory, continuous care, and sometimes followed by referral to other medical providers.

6. Compare secondary tertiary

---

Synonym Usage

See elementary.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• primariness
  noun
• postprimary
  adjective
• subprimary
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• primaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of primary

First recorded in 1425–75; (adjective) late Middle English, from Latin prīmārius “of the first rank, chief.” See prime, -ary

Explanation

Primary means basically "first." When you vote in a primary, that is the first election in a series. When a matter is of primary concern, it means it's of first importance. Primary school is the first you go to (after nursery school, at least). There's an interesting alternate system for counting first, second, third, etc. up to tenth. It's primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, and denary. There's also a word for twelfth, duodenary, though that — along with all the words after tertiary — is rarely used.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

primary primaries primaried primarying

“His primary role is, if there were ever to be a time where they felt they needed to make a change at the top, that would be something that he’d intervene on.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Roman was built around a five-year primary mission and a five-year extended mission, giving it a total fuel budget intended to support 10 years of operations.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

"However, our primary role is to keep our skies safe, and everyone who flies through them. At no point last week was safety in question."

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

“We’re in a little bit of uncharted territory here,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant who led Sen. John Cornyn’s unsuccessful primary bid against Paxton.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Daniel’s primary character flaw is that he’s gullible.

From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen

On Friday, Bill Maher did a lengthy segment on his show “Real Time,” apologizing to the president for having said “almost none” of his endorsed candidates are winning their primaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

It didn't respond to a request for comment, but it has rejected suggestions that its influence is collapsing, saying hundreds of candidates it backed have won their primaries.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

With Tuesday’s primaries in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Carolina over, we’re down to fewer than a half dozen states that have contests left to go.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

He became the latest party House incumbent to be ousted in the primaries.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

The lower back was light gray and so were the wings, which tapered to long, black-tipped primaries folded together over the tail.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

One former lawmaker, Dallas’ Jason Villalba, knows what it’s like to be primaried by a GOP rival backed by insurgent groups.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2023

Manchin brushed off the warning, saying, “I’ve been primaried my entire life. That would not be anything new for me.”

From The Guardian ● Jan. 19, 2022

He was primaried by another Republican last year and left office on Jan 3.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 7, 2021

He will die a senator or be primaried and spend the rest of his life just hanging out around the Capitol.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2015

"Right now Cantor is impregnable, but if we can make him vulnerable then he can be primaried," Hurd said.

From Reuters ● May 17, 2011

If he does, though, good luck to whichever next-big-thing in Massachusetts politics chooses to end their career by primarying him.

From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026

In 1998, the Working Families Party began testing the strategy: primarying the worst incumbents, endorsing the best and running third-party races only when it made sense.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2019

In Rhode Island, it is former secretary of state Matt Brown and Bernie Sanders-organizer Aaron Regunberg primarying Raimondo and her lieutenant governor.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 10, 2018

Related Words

• constitutional
• dominant
• elementary
• essential
• fundamental
• immediate
• initial
• leading
• main
• prime
• principal
• underlying
• vital