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   Pri·ma·ry

   /ˈprīˌmerē/

   

   adjective

   • 1. of chief importance; principal: "the government's primary aim is to see significant reductions in unemployment" Similar mainchiefkeyprimecentralprincipalforemostfirstmost importantpredominantparamountoverridingmajorrulingdominantmastersupremecardinalpreeminentultimateinformal:number-oneOpposite secondarysubordinate
   • 2. earliest in time or order: "the primary stage of their political education" Similar originalearliestinitialbeginningfirstessentialfundamentalbasicOpposite secondary
   • ▪ relating to education for children between the ages of about five and ten: British "a primary school"
   • 3. not derived from, caused by, or based on anything else; original: "his expert handling of the primary and secondary literature is clear on every page"
   • ▪ belonging to or directly derived from the first stage of development or growth: "a primary bone tumor"
   • 4. (of an organic compound) having its functional group located on a carbon atom which is bonded to no more than one other carbon atom: "a primary alcohol"
   • ▪ (chiefly of amines) derived from ammonia by replacement of one hydrogen atom by an organic group.
   • 5. denoting or relating to organisms that produce organic compounds from simple substances such as water and carbon dioxide, typically by photosynthesis: "the organic matter is formed by primary producers such as plants and plankton"
   • ▪ denoting or relating to consumer organisms at the lowest level in a community's food chain, which eat autotrophic organisms: "seed-eating birds and herbivorous insects are primary consumers"
   • 6. relating to or denoting the input side of a device using electromagnetic induction, especially in a transformer.
   • 7. former term for Paleozoic

   noun

   • 1. (in the US) a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party conference or to select the candidates for a principal, especially presidential, election: "these two Republicans should win their primaries easily"
   • 2. a primary color.
   • ▪ a primary feather.
   • ▪ the body orbited by a smaller satellite or companion.
   • ▪ a primary coil or winding in an electrical transformer.
   • 3. the Primary or Paleozoic era. dated

   verb

   • 1. (in the US) run against (the current holder of a political office) in the preliminary election a party uses to select its candidate for the general election: "I'm not primarying the president, and no one else should either unless we want to lose the White House"

   Word Origin late Middle English (in the sense ‘original, not derivative’): from Latin primarius, from primus ‘first’. The noun uses date from the 18th century.

   Scrabble Points: 14

   • P

     3

   • R

     1

   • I

     1

   • M

     3

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   • Y

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