primary qualities
Britishplural noun
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.
This bus has primary qualities of solidity and space occupancy that exist independently of our perceptual machinery and that can do us injury.
From Scientific American • Aug. 27, 2019
It is to man what impenetrability, with the other primary qualities, is to matter.
From Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 3 (of 3) by Parker, Theodore
If living characters, perfect plot construction, imaginative breadth of canvas and absolute truth to life are the primary qualities of great realistic fiction, Mr. Phillpotts is one of the greatest novelists of the day....
From Margarita's Soul The Romantic Recollections of a Man of Fifty by Williams, J. Scott (John Scott)
Some primary qualities of his genius are pretty evenly balanced by some primary faults.
From Views and Reviews Essays in appreciation by Henley, William Ernest
But if this be true, the use of the term 'look' or 'appear' in connexion with colour involves a difficulty which does not arise when it is used in connexion with the primary qualities.
From Kant's Theory of Knowledge by Prichard, Harold Arthur
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.
