primary

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹ.i/ UK /ˈpɹaɪ.m(ə.)ɹi/ See IPA manual

Freq #4819

Meanings

1

adj
Most important; main.

Our primary concern is to keep everyone safe.
2

adj
First or earliest in a series, especially in education.

Children go to primary school before secondary school.
3

noun
An early election to choose a political party's candidate.

He won the party's primary and will run for president.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · most important; main. main chief

Word family

Forms primaries

Derived forms circumprimarycoprimarymegaprimarynonprimarypostprimarypre-primarypreprimaryprimarilyprimarinesspseudoprimarysecundo-primarysubprimary

Related forms first

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prīmārius (“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”), from prīmus (first; whence the English adjective prime) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French primaire, primer, and premier. Doublet of premier.

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# primary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹ.i/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɹaɪ.m(ə.)ɹi/
**Frequency rank:** 4819

## Meanings
1. Most important; main.
2. First or earliest in a series, especially in education.
3. An early election to choose a political party's candidate.

## Examples
- Our primary concern is to keep everyone safe.
- Children go to primary school before secondary school.
- He won the party's primary and will run for president.

## Derived Forms
- circumprimary
- coprimary
- megaprimary
- nonprimary
- postprimary
- pre-primary
- preprimary
- primarily
- primariness
- pseudoprimary
- secundo-primary
- subprimary

## Related Forms
- first

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin prīmārius (“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”), from prīmus (first; whence the English adjective prime) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French primaire, primer, and premier. Doublet of premier.

## AI Etymology
Primary was borrowed from Latin prīmārius (“of the first (rank); chief, principal; excellent”), from prīmus (first; whence the English adjective prime) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French primaire, primer, and premier. Doublet of premier. In present-day English it covers most important; main, first or earliest in a series, especially in education, and an early election to choose a political party's candidate. The wider family includes derived forms such as circumprimary, coprimary, megaprimary, nonprimary, postprimary and related forms such as first.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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