prime
prime Lexical Profile
prime Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Of first importance; main, chief, or primary.
"Clean drinking water is a prime necessity for any thriving community."
Of the best possible quality; excellent or superior.
"The restaurant is famous for serving prime cuts of aged beef."
Denoting a whole number greater than one that can be divided evenly only by itself and one (in mathematics).
"Seven and eleven are both prime numbers."
• noun
A state or time of greatest strength, vigor, beauty, or success in a person's life or a thing's existence.
"The athlete retired while still in the prime of her career."
A whole number greater than one that cannot be exactly divided by any whole number other than itself and one; a prime number.
"Mathematicians use supercomputers to search for ever larger primes."
• verb
To prepare a surface for painting by coating it with a preparatory substance or undercoat.
"You should sand and prime the wooden doors before applying the glossy topcoat."
To equip someone with prior information, instructions, or expectations so they are prepared for a particular situation or response.
"The attorney primed the witness on what kinds of questions to expect during the hearing."
To make something ready for use or action, in particular by pouring liquid into a pump or fuel into an engine to enable it to begin operating.
"He had to prime the water pump several times before a steady stream flowed out."
• Rhymes for prime
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'prim' and Old French 'prime', both derived from Latin 'primus' meaning 'first' or 'foremost' (specifically from 'hora prima', the first hour of the Roman day).