fundamental
Syllables: fun·da·men·talUK/ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˌfɐn.dəˈmen.təl/
fundamental noun: a basic truth, elementary concept, principle, rule, or law. An individual fundamental will often serve as a building block used to form a complex idea.
Noun
fundamental (plural fundamentals)
- A basic truth, elementary concept, principle, rule, or law. An individual fundamental will often serve as a building block used to form a complex idea.
- Personal leadership is a fundamental of successful government.1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Happy Warrior Alfred E. Smith, Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, →OL, page 28
- A collection of essential component ideas that are often grouped together to serve as the foundational basis of a complex idea.
- one of the fundamentals of linear algebra
- When any one offers me a compleat Catalogue of his Fundamentals, he does not unreaſonably demand me to quit mine for nothing[…]1722, John Locke, The Works of John Locke ...: With Alphabetical Tables ..., page 572
- The lowest frequency of a periodic waveform.
- The lowest partial of a complex tone.
Adjective
fundamental (comparative more fundamental, superlative most fundamental)
- Related to a foundation, base, or basis; serving as a foundation.
- Essential; extremely important.
- a fundamental truth; a fundamental axiom; a fundamental element; fundamental principle; fundamental law
- A need for belonging seems fundamental to humans.
- Synonyms:
- elementary, underlying
fundamental meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fundamental in Hindi
- fundamental, rudimentary
- आधारभूत ādhārbhūt
- fundamental
- ज़ाती zātī
fundamental in Tamil
- அடிப்படை, அடிப்படையான
fundamental in Marathi
- fundamental, rudimentary, or foundational; forming the essential basis or support of something
- आधारभूत ādhārbhūt
- fundamental, basic
- पायाभूत pāyābhūt
- a fundamental or radical transformation; a change affecting the very basis or nature of something
- मूलपरिवर्तन mūlaparivartana
fundamental in Urdu
- fundamental, basic
- اصل asl
- fundamental, primary, basic, principal
- بنیادی buniyādī
- fundamental
- اصلی aslī, ذاتی zātī
More languagesFewer languages
- fundamental in Bengali
- মৌলিক mōulik
- fundamental in Malayalam
- അടിസ്ഥാന aṭisthāna, മൗലിക maulika
- fundamental in Kannada
- ಅಡಿಯ, ಮೂಲಭೂತ
- fundamental in Punjabi
- ਬੁਨਿਆਦੀ buniādī
- fundamental in Gujarati
- મૂળ mūḷ
- fundamental in Tagalog
- batayan
- fundamental in Arabic
- أَسَاسِيّ ʔasāsiyy
- fundamental in Persian
- بنیادی bonyâdi, اساسی asâsi
- fundamental in Thai
- พื้นฐาน pʉ́ʉn-tǎan, เบื้องต้น bʉ̂ʉang-dtôn
Examples of fundamental in a sentence
- Absolute or Ultimate Truth... may be for ever unattainable... the fundamentals of to-day... may in the fullness of time be displaced by still more fundamental conceptions.1920, Frederick Soddy, Science and life: Aberdeen addresses, p. 159. Lecture to the Aberdeen University Christian Union, Marischal College...
- A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
Synonyms of fundamental
Forms of fundamental
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fundamentals |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more fundamental |
| superlative | most fundamental |
Origin of fundamental
From Middle English foundamental, fundamental, from Late Latin fundāmentālis, from Latin fundāmentum (“foundation”), from fundō (“to lay the foundation (of something), to found”), from fundus (“bottom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn. By surface analysis, fundament + -al.
Words formed from fundamental
- algebraic fundamental group
- antifundamental
- bifundamental
- first fundamental form
- fundamental analysis
- fundamental constant
- fundamental data
- fundamental force
- fundamental frequency
- fundamental group
- fundamental interaction
- fundamentalism
- fundamentalist
- fundamentalistic
- fundamentality
- fundamentally
- fundamentalness
- fundamental niche
- fundamental painting
- fundamental particle
- fundamental right
- fundamental science
- fundamental theorem
- fundamental theorem of arithmetic
- fundamental theorem of calculus
- fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals
- fundamental unit
- nonfundamental
- prefundamental
- unfundamental
Phrases with fundamental
Questions about fundamental
- What does fundamental mean?
- Fundamental means a basic truth, elementary concept, principle, rule, or law. An individual fundamental will often serve as a building block used to form a complex idea.
- What is fundamental in Hindi?
- Fundamental in Hindi is आधारभूत (ādhārbhūt), ज़ाती (zātī). See Fundamental meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use fundamental in a sentence?
- Absolute or Ultimate Truth... may be for ever unattainable... the fundamentals of to-day... may in the fullness of time be displaced by still more fundamental conceptions.
- What part of speech is fundamental?
- Fundamental can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce fundamental?
- Fundamental is pronounced /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fundamental?
- The plural of fundamental is fundamentals.
Words near fundamental in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fundamental (page history and authors); आधारभूत (Hindi) (page history and authors); fundamental (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आधारभूत (Marathi) (page history and authors); اصل (Urdu) (page history and authors); fundamental (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬੁਨਿਆਦੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); મૂળ (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fundamental.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fundamental.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fundamental. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.