First recorded in 1925–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Churchill was furious because the name wasn't in Basic English, but he turned up just the same.
From Time Magazine Archive
All that Basic English could produce," reported Lockhart, "was 'blood, body water, and eyewash.'
From Time Magazine Archive
Whatever eventually happens to Basic English, Basic Chinese is a sensational success.
From Time Magazine Archive
Translation into Basic English sometimes results in a stilted foreignness.
From Time Magazine Archive
You say the letter accompanying the first deposit, the one in Basic English, was apparently taken away by Kettle-Belly Sam Bonney.
From Lone Star Planet by Piper, H. Beam
His course - "English4Truckers" - covers basic English, communicating with officers during inspections, ordering at restaurants like Starbucks or Subway, calling 911, and explaining issues to mechanics.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025
The training included technical language training, as the usual basic English level was insufficient, he said.
From Reuters ● Aug. 19, 2023
Safe from the Taliban, but without social security numbers,credit ratings, or even sometimes basic English, they have to make a new life relying on a patchwork of volunteers and their wits.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2022
A sandy road leads to Merino’s small cement-floor home, where one wall displays a framed certificate showing that his son passed his basic English studies.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 4, 2022
NM: Word list of basic English, updating of all tables & census material. © 12Sep44; A182825.
From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1971 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office
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.
