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say it: prahym
prime is an adjective, noun and verb meaning "first in rank or degree". It is pronounced /ˈpɹaɪm/ — prahym. It carries 12 recorded senses.
of superior grade
“choice wines”
“prime beef”
“prize carnations”
“quality paper”
“select peaches”
of or relating to or being an integer that cannot be factored into other integers
“prime number”
mathematics
a natural number that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself
the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
the second canonical hour; about 6 a.m.
the time of maturity when power and vigor are greatest
insert a primer into (a gun, mine, or charge) preparatory to detonation or firing
“prime a cannon”
“prime a mine”
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.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for prime come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.