elementary

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something.

2. 2

   Very simple.

3. 3

   Relating to an elementary school.

4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Fundamental

      Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.

      • The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
   2. 5

      Straightforward, employing only basic techniques

      Straightforward, employing only basic techniques; not requiring substantial knowledge (of some particular domain, object, etc.).

   3. 6

      Sublunary

      Sublunary; not celestial; belonging to the sublunary sphere, to which the four classical elements (earth, air, fire and water) were confined; composed of or pertaining to these four elements.

   4. 7

      Ellipsis of elementary school.

      • At Lakeside Elementary I learned to appreciate the forest.
      • He was my dentist. My mom took me to him back in elementary and junior high.
   5. 8

      A supernatural being associated with the elements.

      • The demon (or elementary) of the South-West wind was particularly dreaded, as being the gini of fever and madness.
      • […] the spiritual man is either translated like Enoch and Elias to the higher state, or falls down lower than an elementary again […]
      • But, in Africa these became definite in their Egyptian Types, by means of which we can follow their development from the elementaries of Chaos and Space into Celestial Intelligencers […]

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