rudimentary
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to rudiments or first principles; elementary.
a rudimentary knowledge of geometry.
- Synonyms:
- initial, fundamental
- Antonyms:
- advanced
-
Biology. of the nature of a rudiment; undeveloped or vestigial.
- Synonyms:
- embryonic
- Antonyms:
- mature
-
in an early, imperfect stage or form.
How can we improve upon this admittedly rudimentary theory?
adjective
-
basic; fundamental; not elaborated or perfected
-
incompletely developed; vestigial
rudimentary leaves
Related Words
See elementary.
Other Word Forms
- nonrudimental adjective
- nonrudimentarily adverb
- nonrudimentarilyness noun
- nonrudimentary adjective
- rudimentarily adverb
- rudimentariness noun
Etymology
Origin of rudimentary
Explanation
Rudimentary means basic, or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials. The word rude means simple or offensive — and people with only rudimentary understanding of good manners might not know how that belching is rude. If you remember that the word rude is the foundation of rudimentary, you'll have a rudimentary understanding of the word.
Vocabulary lists containing rudimentary
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 4
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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.
Anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of recent history would have known this was likely.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
As it hit the pitch, Catan leapt into action and started performing rudimentary CPR, pumping the bird's ribcage.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
While rudimentary, the Odyssey broke a barrier in the world of television.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
"I just took a very rudimentary, basic kit with me," he says.
From BBC • Jan. 19, 2026
Beyond these rudimentary details, nothing was known about the structure or function of DNA and RNA.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
