Englishbasic
adjective
1 the basic principles of criminal law | basic human rights:
fundamental, rudimentary, primary, principal, cardinal, chief, elementary, elemental, root;
central, pivotal, critical, key, focal, salient, staple;
essential, quintessential, bare-bones, stripped down, cut down, vital, necessary, indispensable, foundational, intrinsic, underlying, ingrained.
▷antonyms secondary, unimportant.
2 she got a basic salary plus a commission:
lowest, bottom, starting, ground, undermost;
without commission.
3 all the rooms have basic cooking facilities:
plain, simple, unsophisticated, straightforward, adequate, unadorned, undecorated, unornamented, without frills;
spartan, sparse, stark, severe, austere, limited, meagre, rudimentary, patchy, sketchy, minimal;
modest, ordinary, unpretentious, unostentatious, unfussy, homely, homespun;
rough, rough and ready, rough-hewn, crude, makeshift;
restrained, muted;
informal bog-standard.
▷antonyms elaborate.
| choose the right word | basic, fundamental |
Basic and fundamental are synonymous in many contexts and are both used to describe principles, concepts, understanding, research, and rights. ■ Something described as basic is seen as a necessary minimum, to which further elaborations may or may not be added. The basic concept or basic design of something is the essential core of what may be a more complex idea or design, identified for the purpose of better understanding. In examples like a plain, basic, rock-bottom hatchback or teaching basic camera skills, basic denotes a necessary minimum which can then be improved upon or elaborated upon for purposes of luxury or proficiency. This is illustrated by the fact that basic, rather than fundamental, is more likely to be used with the following nouns: necessity, training, information, and ingredient. ■ Fundamental derives from Latin fundamentum ‘foundation’. Something that is fundamental to something else is essential to it, determining its nature. So physics might be called a fundamental aspect of the curriculum if it influences and shapes some or all of the other topics taught, but basic if it merely provides an elementary educational grounding. A fundamental flaw, on the other hand, is one which impairs the whole structure; other nouns which are typically used with fundamental include: change, importance, and question. | |
basic Oxford Dictionary of English