elementary
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L221 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌɛlɪˈmɛntəɹi/ / /ˌɛlɪˈmɛntɹi/ / /ˌɛləˈmɛntəɹi/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English elementare, from Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire. By surface analysis, element + -ary.
- Relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something.
- Very simple.
- Relating to an elementary school.
- 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.”
- Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
- Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
- Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
- Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
- Straightforward, employing only basic techniques; not requiring substantial knowledge (of some particular domain, object, etc.).
- Straightforward, employing only basic techniques; not requiring substantial knowledge (of some particular domain, object, etc.).
- 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.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English elementare, from Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire. By surface analysis, element + -ary.
- 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.”
- 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 […]”