primary
adjective
[ ˈprʌɪm(ə)ri ]
• of chief importance; principal.
Similar:
main,
chief,
key,
prime,
central,
principal,
foremost,
first,
most important,
predominant,
paramount,
overriding,
major,
ruling,
dominant,
master,
supreme,
cardinal,
pre-eminent,
ultimate,
number-one,
• earliest in time or order.
• "the primary stage of their political education"
• not derived from, caused by, or based on anything else; original.
• "his expert handling of the primary and secondary literature is clear on every page"
• (of an organic compound) having its functional group located on a carbon atom which is bonded to no more than one other carbon atom.
• "a primary alcohol"
• denoting or relating to organisms that produce organic compounds from simple substances such as water and carbon dioxide, typically by photosynthesis.
• "the organic matter is formed by primary producers such as plants and plankton"
• relating to or denoting the input side of a transformer or other inductive device.
• former term for Palaeozoic.
primary
noun
• (in the US) a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party conference or to select the candidates for a principal, especially presidential, election.
• a primary colour.
• the Palaeozoic era.
primary
verb
• (in the US) run against (the current holder of a political office) in the preliminary election a party uses to select its candidate for the main election.
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘original, not derivative’): from Latin primarius, from primus ‘first’. The noun uses date from the 18th century.
