fundamental

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌfɐn.dəˈmɛn.təl/ UK /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/ See IPA manual

Freq #7796

Meanings

1

adj
Forming the basic and most important part of something; essential.

Honesty is a fundamental part of any good friendship.
2

adj
Far-reaching and affecting the very nature of something.

The new law brought a fundamental change to how schools are run.
3

noun
A basic rule or principle that other ideas are built on.

You must master the fundamentals of grammar first.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · forming the basic and most... elementary central rudimentary

2 adj · far-reaching and affecting... profound

More groundlaying

Word family

Forms fundamentals

Derived forms antifundamentalbifundamentalfundamentalismfundamentalistfundamentalisticfundamentalityfundamentallyfundamentalnessnonfundamentalprefundamentalunfundamental

Related forms fundament

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

fundamental error
a mistake that affects the basic reasoning or foundation of something

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Late Latin fundamentālis, from Latin fundamentum (“foundation”), from fundō (“to lay the foundation (of something), to found”), from fundus (“bottom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn.

fundamentālis la-lat fundamentum Latin *bʰudʰmḗn Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# fundamental

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌfɐn.dəˈmɛn.təl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/
**Frequency rank:** 7796

## Meanings
1. Forming the basic and most important part of something; essential.
2. Far-reaching and affecting the very nature of something.
3. A basic rule or principle that other ideas are built on.

## Examples
- Honesty is a fundamental part of any good friendship.
- The new law brought a fundamental change to how schools are run.
- You must master the fundamentals of grammar first.

## Synonyms
- groundlaying

## Derived Forms
- antifundamental
- bifundamental
- fundamentalism
- fundamentalist
- fundamentalistic
- fundamentality
- fundamentally
- fundamentalness
- nonfundamental
- prefundamental
- unfundamental

## Related Forms
- fundament

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: fundamentālis
- Root: fundamentum
- Root: *bʰudʰmḗn

## Etymology
From Late Latin fundamentālis, from Latin fundamentum (“foundation”), from fundō (“to lay the foundation (of something), to found”), from fundus (“bottom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn.

## AI Etymology
Fundamental comes from Late Latin fundamentālis, from Latin fundamentum (“foundation”), from fundō (“to lay the foundation (of something), to found”), from fundus (“bottom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn. In current use, the main senses are “Forming the basic and most important part of something; essential” and “Far-reaching and affecting the very nature of something”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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