basic
basic Lexical Profile
basic Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Forming an essential foundation or starting point; fundamental and elementary.
"A solid understanding of basic mathematics is required for all engineering courses."
Offering or consisting of only the simplest, minimum necessities without extra features or luxuries.
"The hikers stayed in a basic cabin that had running water but no electricity."
Unoriginal, mainstream, or predictably conventional in tastes, interests, and lifestyle (slang).
"He teased his sister for having basic taste in pop music and trendy coffee drinks."
Having the properties of a chemical base, or having a pH greater than 7; alkaline.
"Soap and bleach are common household examples of basic substances."
• noun
An essential fact, principle, or skill upon which more complex knowledge or activity is built (usually used in the plural, 'basics').
"During the first week of the workshop, students learn the basics of portrait photography."
A necessary, everyday item, commodity, or garment required for ordinary living (usually used in the plural).
"The small corner store stocks groceries and household basics like milk, bread, and soap."
Word Nuance & Usage
In contemporary slang, 'basic' is used pejoratively to describe someone whose tastes and lifestyle are perceived as unoriginal, mainstream, or conformist, whereas in standard usage it simply means fundamental or essential.
• Rhymes for basic
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 19th century from 'base' plus the suffix '-ic', originally as a chemistry term relating to chemical bases before broadening to mean fundamental or elementary in the late 19th century.