Definitions for primary

• Definition
• Anagrams (122)

primary pri·ma·ry

Spelling: [prahy-mer-ee, -muh-ree]

IPA: /ˈpraɪ mɛr i, -mə ri/

Primary is a 7 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 14 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 15 points.

You can make 122 anagrams from letters in primary (aimprry).

Definitions for primary

noun

1. something that is first in order, rank, or importance.
2. U.S. Politics. Also called primary election. a preliminary election in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office, party officers, etc. Compare closed primary, direct primary, indirect primary, open primary. a meeting of the voters of a political party in an election district for nominating candidates for office, choosing delegates for a convention, etc.; caucus.
3. primary color.
4. Ornithology. a primary feather.
5. Electricity. a winding in a transformer or the like that carries a current and that induces a current in secondary windings.
6. Astronomy. a body in relation to a smaller body or smaller bodies revolving around it, as a planet in relation to its satellites. the brighter of the two stars comprising a double star. Compare companion1 (def 6).

adjective

1. first or highest in rank or importance; chief; principal:
2. first in order in any series, sequence, etc.
3. first in time; earliest; primitive.
4. of, relating to, or characteristic of primary school:
5. constituting or belonging to the first stage in any process.
6. of the nature of the ultimate or simpler constituents of which something complex is made up:
7. original; not derived or subordinate; fundamental; basic. (in scholarly studies) pertaining to or being a firsthand account, original data, etc., or based on direct knowledge, as in primary source; primary research.
8. immediate or direct, or not involving intermediate agency:
9. Sociology. (of social values or ideals) conceived as derived from the primary group and culturally defined as being necessary to the welfare of the individual and society.
10. Ornithology. pertaining to any of the set of flight feathers situated on the distal segment of a bird's wing.
11. Electricity. noting or pertaining to the circuit, coil, winding, or current that induces current in secondary windings in an induction coil, transformer, or the like.
12. Chemistry. involving or obtained by replacement of one atom or group. noting or containing a carbon atom united to no other or to only one other carbon atom in a molecule.
13. Grammar. (of a derivative) having a root or other unanalyzable element as the underlying form: . (of Latin, Greek, Sanskrit tenses) having reference to present or future time. Compare secondary (def 9).

verb (used with object)

1. U.S. Politics. to challenge or oppose (the incumbent) in a primary election, usually for strong ideological reasons (often used in passive constructions):

verb (used without object)

1. U.S. Politics. to run as a candidate in a primary election.

Origin of primary

1425-75; late Middle English (adj.) Latin prīmārius of the first rank. See prime, -ary

Examples for primary

Persons are supplementary to the primary teaching of the soul.

It was Dec. 20, 1991, the deadline for the New Hampshire primary.

Even then, most of us doubted he would show up and actually sign the papers allowing him to enter the 1992 New Hampshire primary.

To remove this should be the primary object in gymnastic training.

The “crying” incident is thought to have hurt Muskie in the primary--which he won handily, but with under 50 percent of the vote.

“You try to always scratch where the itch is,” Huckabee said about his campaigning and rhetoric in the 2008 primary.

Scruff believes that sex is not the primary concern of users.

The primary—ah, booster, as you say, breaks free at twelve miles.

Its primary value, its primary indication, is for the teacher, not for the child.

His tone gave first place, primary consideration, to his work.