basic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   serving as a base or starting point

   a basic course in Russian

2. 2
   adj

   pertaining to or constituting a base or basis

   a basic fact

3. 3
   adj

   reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality

   a basic story line

4. 4
   adj

   Necessary, essential for life or some process.

   Flour is a basic ingredient of bread.

5. 5
   adj

   Elementary, simple, fundamental, merely functional.

   The Hotel Sparta’s accommodation is very basic.

6. 6
   adj

   Unremarkable or uninteresting; boring; uncool.

   I'm not saying people are jealous of Hathaway because she is so perfect. Yes, she does have it all — husband, healthy career, good looks. But she doesn't do anything in an "awesome" way. She's basic.

7. 7
   noun

   A necessary commodity, a staple requirement.

   Rice is a basic for many Asian villagers.

8. 8
   noun

   An elementary building block, e.g. a fundamental piece of knowledge.

   Arithmetic is a basic for the study of mathematics.

Etymology

Acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, but designed to spell out basic (i.e. simplistic). First use appears c. 1964 in the BASIC Instruction Manual.