What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Prime vs Basic - What's the difference?

prime | basic | Synonyms |

In lang=en terms the difference between prime and basic

is that prime is to mark with a prime mark while basic is vapid, boring, or uncool.

As adjectives the difference between prime and basic

is that prime is first in importance, degree, or rank while basic is necessary, essential for life or some process.

As nouns the difference between prime and basic

is that prime is one of the daily offices of prayer of the Western Church, associated with the early morning (typically 6 a.m.) while basic is a necessary commodity, a staple requirement.

As a verb prime

is to prepare a mechanism for its main work.

As a proper noun BASIC is

a family of third-generation programming languages (c.1964 on).

prime

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) prime, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(-)
  • First in importance, degree, or rank.
    • Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.
  • First in time, order, or sequence
    • Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.
  • * Tennyson
    • prime forests
  • * Milton
    • She was not the prime cause, but I myself.
  • First in excellence, quality, or value.
    • This is a prime location for a bookstore.
  • (mathematics, lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
    • Thirteen is a prime number.
  • (mathematics, technical) Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
  • (mathematics) Having its complement closed under multiplication: said only of ideals.
  • Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
  • Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
  • * Milton
    • His starry helm, unbuckled, showed him prime / In manhood where youth ended.
  • (obsolete) Lecherous; lustful; lewd.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Synonyms
    * greatest, most important, main, primary, principal, top * excellent, top quality * earliest, first, original * (having no nontrivial factors) indivisible * (dividing a factor of any product it divides) *
    Related terms
    * secondary * tertiary

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Christianity, historical) One of the daily offices of prayer of the Western Church, associated with the early morning (typically 6 a.m.).
  • * Spenser
    • Early and late it rung, at evening and at prime .
  • (obsolete) The early morning.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , I.vi:
    • They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Prime
  • The earliest stage of something.
  • * Hooker
    • in the very prime of the world
  • * Waller
    • Hope waits upon the flowery prime .
  • The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
  • * Eustace
    • cut off in their prime
  • * Dryden
    • the prime of youth
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 29, author=Nathan Rabin
    • , title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992) , passage=And it’s daunting because each segment has to tell a full, complete story in something like six minutes while doing justice to revered source material and including the non-stop laughs and genius gags that characterized The Simpsons in its god-like prime .}}
  • * 1965 , (Bob Dylan), (Like a Rolling Stone)
    • Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime , didn’t you?
  • The chief or best individual or part.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Give him always of the prime .
  • (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
  • (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
  • (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
    • , title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’' cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving ' primes .}}
  • (card games) A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
  • (backgammon) Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.
  • The symbol
  • (chemistry, obsolete) Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1.
  • An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
    • Synonyms
    * bloom, blossom, efflorescence, flower, flush, heyday, peak * (chief or best individual or part) choice, prize, quality, select * prime number (when an integer)
    Derived terms
    (algebra) * cousin prime * primality * prime constellation * prime number * sexy prime * twin prime

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain; perhaps related to primage.

    Verb

    (prim)
  • To prepare a mechanism for its main work.
    • You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.
  • To apply a coat of primer paint to.
    • I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.
  • (obsolete) To be renewed.
  • * Quarles
    • Night's bashful empress, though she often wane, / As oft repeats her darkness, primes again.
  • To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
  • (of a steam boiler) To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.
  • To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
  • To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.
    • to prime a witness
    The boys are primed for mischief.
    (Thackeray)
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.
    • to prime trees
  • (math) To mark with a prime mark.
    • Synonyms
    * (to apply a coat of primer paint to) ground, undercoat

    Derived terms

    * primer

    Related terms

    * primal * primary * primate * Primates * primy

    See also

    * prime contract * prime decomposition * prime factorization * prime number * pseudoprime

    References

    ----

    basic

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Necessary, essential for life or some process.
    • Flour is a basic ingredient of bread.
  • Elementary, simple, fundamental, merely functional.
    • The Hotel Sparta’s accommodation is purely basic .
  • (chemistry) Of or pertaining to a base; having a pH greater than 7.
  • (slang) Vapid, boring, or uncool.
  • * 2011 , (Kreayshawn), "(Gucci Gucci)", (w, Somethin' 'Bout Kreay) :
    • Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada / Them basic bitches wear that shit, so I don't even bother
  • * 2013 , Sam Stryker, " Why Does Everyone Hate Anne Hathaway?", The Observer (University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College), Volume 46, Issue 101, 1 March 2013, page 11:
    • I'm not saying people are jealous of Hathaway because she is so perfect. Yes, she does have it all — husband, healthy career, good looks. But she doesn't do anything in an "awesome" way. She's basic .
  • * 2014 , Trevor Thrall, " Firing Line: Rowling says ‘JK,’ Ron and Hermione not meant to be", The Daily Campus (Southern Methodist University), Volume 99, Issue 54, 3 February 2014, page 4:
    • And what can be said about Ginny? She’s basic . My guess is that she spends her time drinking pumpkin spice lattes and watching “Pretty Little Liars.” The Chosen One is way out of her quidditch league.
  • *

    • Synonyms

    * See also * (chemistry) alkaline

    Antonyms

    * (chemistry) acidic

    Derived terms

    * basically * BASIC

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A necessary commodity, a staple requirement.
    • Rice is a basic for many Asian villagers.
  • An elementary building block, e.g. a fundamental piece of knowledge.
    • Arithmetic is a basic for the study of mathematics.
  • (military) Basic training.

    • Anagrams

    * ----