Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - basic

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. You use basic to describe things, activities, and principles that are very important or necessary, and on which others depend. One of the most basic requirements for any form of angling is a sharp hook. ...the basic skills of reading, writing and communicating. ...the basic laws of physics... Access to justice is a basic right. = fundamental ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. Basic goods and services are very simple ones which every human being needs. You can also refer to people’s basic needs for such goods and services. ...shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs... Hospitals lack even basic drugs for surgical operations. ...the basic needs of food and water. ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. If one thing is basic to another, it is absolutely necessary to it, and the second thing cannot exist, succeed, or be imagined without it. ...an oily liquid, basic to the manufacture of a host of other chemical substances... There are certain ethical principles that are basic to all the great religions. = central ADJ: v-link ADJ to n 4. You can use basic to emphasize that you are referring to what you consider to be the most important aspect of a situation, and that you are not concerned with less important details. There are three basic types of tea... The basic design changed little from that patented by Edison more than 100 years ago... The basic point is that sanctions cannot be counted on to produce a sure result. = fundamental ADJ: ADJ n c darkgreen]emphasis 5. You can use basic to describe something that is very simple in style and has only the most necessary features, without any luxuries. We provide 2-person tents and basic cooking and camping equipment. ...the extremely basic hotel room. ADJ 6. Basic is used to describe a price or someone’s income when this does not include any additional amounts. ...an increase of more than twenty per cent on the basic pay of a typical coalface worker... The basic price for a 10-minute call is only ?2.49. ADJ: ADJ n 7. The basic rate of income tax is the lowest or most common rate, which applies to people who earn average incomes. All this is to be done without big rises in the basic level of taxation. ...a basic-rate taxpayer. ADJ: ADJ n