base
1
(b
s)
KEY
NOUN:
- The lowest or bottom part:
the base of a cliff; the base of a lamp.
-
Biology
- The part of a plant or animal organ that is nearest to its point of attachment.
- The point of attachment of such an organ.
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- A supporting part or layer; a foundation:
a skyscraper built on a base of solid rock.
- A basic or underlying element; infrastructure:
the nation's industrial base.
- The fundamental principle or underlying concept of a system or theory; a basis.
- A fundamental ingredient; a chief constituent:
a paint with an oil base.
- The fact, observation, or premise from which a reasoning process is begun.
-
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Games
A starting point, safety area, or goal.
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Baseball
Any one of the four corners of an infield, marked by a bag or plate, that must be touched by a runner before a run can be scored.
- A center of organization, supply, or activity; a headquarters.
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- A fortified center of operations.
- A supply center for a large force of military personnel.
- A facial cosmetic used to even out the complexion or provide a surface for other makeup; a foundation.
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Architecture
The lowest part of a structure, such as a wall, considered as a separate unit:
the base of a column.
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Heraldry
The lower part of a shield.
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Linguistics
A morpheme or morphemes regarded as a form to which affixes or other bases may be added.
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Mathematics
- The side or face of a geometric figure to which an altitude is or is thought to be drawn.
- The number that is raised to various powers to generate the principal counting units of a number system. The base of the decimal system, for example, is 10.
- The number raised to the logarithm of a designated number in order to produce that designated number; the number at which a chosen logarithmic scale has the value 1.
- A line used as a reference for measurement or computations.
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Chemistry
- Any of a class of compounds whose aqueous solutions are characterized by a bitter taste, a slippery feel, the ability to turn litmus blue, and the ability to react with acids to form salts.
- A substance that yields hydroxyl ions when dissolved in water.
- A substance that can act as a proton acceptor.
- A substance that can donate a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond.
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Electronics
- The region in a transistor between the emitter and the collector.
- The electrode attached to this region.
- One of the nitrogen-containing purines (adenine and guanine) or pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine, and uracil) that occurs attached to the sugar component of DNA or RNA.
ADJECTIVE:
- Forming or serving as a base:
a base layer of soil.
- Situated at or near the base or bottom:
a base camp for the mountain climbers.
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Chemistry
Of, relating to, or containing a base.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
based
,
bas·ing
,
bas·es
- To form or provide a base for:
based the new company in Portland.
- To find a basis for; establish:
based her conclusions on the report; a film based on a best-selling novel.
- To assign to a base; station:
troops based in the Middle East.
IDIOM:
off base
- Badly mistaken.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French, from Latin
basis, from Greek; see
gw- in Indo-European roots
SYNONYMS:
base
1
, basis
, foundation
, ground
1
, groundwork
These nouns all pertain to what underlies and supports.
Base is applied chiefly to material objects:
the wide base of the pyramid.
Basis is used in a nonphysical sense:
"Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation"
(Arthur Conan Doyle).
Foundation often stresses firmness of support for something of relative magnitude:
"Our flagrant disregard for the law attacks the foundation of this society"
(Peter D. Relic).
Ground is used figuratively in the plural to mean a justifiable reason:
grounds for divorce.
Groundwork usually has the sense of a necessary preliminary:
"It [the Universal Declaration of Human Rights] has laid the groundwork for the world's war crimes tribunals"
(Hillary Rodham Clinton).
