| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | simple, basic |
| Synonyms: | ABCs, abecedarian, basal, beginning, child's play, clear, duck soup, easy, elemental, essential, facile, foundational, fundamental, initial, introductory, meat and potatoes, original, plain, prefatory, preliminary, primary, primitive, primo, rudimentary, simplest, simplex, simplified, straightforward, substratal, uncomplex, uncomplicated, underlying |
| Antonyms: | abstruse, advanced, complex, complicated, compound, difficult, hard, intricate, involved, secondary |
| Main Entry: | embryonic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | rudimentary |
| Synonyms: | beginning, developing, early, elementary, evolving, germinal, immature, incipient, undeveloped |
| Main Entry: | essential |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | basic, fundamental |
| Synonyms: | absolute, basal, cardinal, cold, complete, congenital, connate, constitutional, deep-seated, elemental, elementary, ideal, inborn, inbred, inherent, innate, intrinsic, key, main, material, meat and potatoes, name of the game, nitty-gritty, nub, perfect, primary, prime, primitive, principal, quintessential, substratal, underlying |
| Notes: | the words crucial, essential, and vital cannot be qualified (cannot be more or less...) |
| Antonyms: | atypical, minor, secondary |
| Main Entry: | first |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | earliest in order |
| Synonyms: | aboriginal, ahead, antecedent, anterior, basic, beginning, cardinal, early, elementary, first off, front, fundamental, head, headmost, in the beginning, inaugural, inceptive, incipient, initial, introductory, key, lead off, leading, least, number one, numero uno, opening, original, pioneer, premier, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, primordial, pristine, right up front, rudimentary, slightest, smallest |
| Antonyms: | final, last |
| Main Entry: | fundamental |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | basic, important |
| Synonyms: | axiological, axiomatic, basal, bottom, bottom-line, cardinal, central, constitutional, constitutive, crucial, elemental, elementary, essential, first, foundational, grass-roots, indispensable, integral, intrinsic, key, major, meat-and-potatoes, necessary, organic, original, paramount, primary, prime, primitive, primordial, principal, radical, requisite, rudimentary, significant, structural, substratal, substrative, supporting, sustaining, theoretical, underived, underlying, vital |
| Antonyms: | additional, advanced, auxiliary, extra, minor, secondary, subordinate, trivial, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | inchoate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | undeveloped, beginning |
| Synonyms: | amorphous, elementary, embryonic, formless, immature, imperfect, inceptive, incipient, just begun, nascent, preliminary, rudimentary, shapeless, unfinished, unformed, unshaped |
| Antonyms: | developed, grown, mature |
| Main Entry: | incipient |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | developing |
| Synonyms: | basic, beginning, commencing, elementary, embryonic, fundamental, inceptive, inchoate, initial, initiative, initiatory, introductory, nascent, originating, start |
| Antonyms: | developed, grown, mature |
| Main Entry: | inherent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | basic, hereditary |
| Synonyms: | built-in, characteristic, congenital, connate, constitutional, deep-rooted, deep-seated, distinctive, elementary, essential, fixed, fundamental, genetic, immanent, implicit, in the grain, inborn, inbred, inbuilt, indigenous, indispensable, individual, indwelling, ingrained, inherited, innate, inner, instinctive, integral, integrated, internal, intimate, intrinsic, inward, latent, native, natural, original, part and parcel, resident, running in the family, subjective, unalienable |
| Notes: | the word innate means 'inborn' and should apply to living things; inherent is 'essential, intrinsic' and applies best to nonliving things like ideas |
| Antonyms: | acquired, added, external, extrinsic, incidental, learned |
| Main Entry: | initial |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | beginning, primary |
| Synonyms: | antecedent, basic, commencing, earliest, early, elementary, embryonic, first, foremost, fundamental, germinal, headmost, inaugural, inceptive, inchoate, incipient, infant, initiative, initiatory, introductory, leading, nascent, opening, original, pioneer, virgin |
| Antonyms: | closing, final, last |