primary

1. 1.

   of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary

   “primary goals”

   “a primary effect”

   “primary sources”

   “a primary interest”

   Antonymssecondary

   Similarcapitaldirectfirsthandfirst-stringoriginalparticular
2. 2.

   not derived from or reducible to something else; basic

   “a primary instinct”

   Similarunderived
3. 3.

   most important element

   “the chief aim of living”

   “the main doors were of solid glass”

   “the principal rivers of America”

   “the principal example”

   “policemen were primary targets”

   “the master bedroom”

   “a master switch”

   Synonymschiefmainprincipalmaster

   Similarimportant
4. 4.

   of or being the essential or basic part

   “an elementary need for love and nurturing”

   “a basal reader”

   Synonymselementaryelementalbasal

   Similarbasic

Other forms of primary

plural

primaries·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about primary

What does primary mean?

primary means "a preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in primary?

primary has 3 syllables: pri-mar-y. The stress falls on "pri". In IPA it is /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹi/.

What is another word for primary?

Close synonyms include primary election, primary feather, primary quill, primary coil, primary winding. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of primary?

The recorded antonyms are secondary.

Is primary a common word?

primary is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with primary?

6 words rhyme with primary. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.