# base

Pronunciation: say "BAYS" /beɪs/

## Verb

1. To use something as the foundation or starting point for something else.
   - Simple: To use something as the main idea or starting point for something else.
   - _The film bases its plot on a famous novel._
   - _Scientists base their conclusions on repeated experiments._
2. To station or locate something at a particular place from which it operates.
   - Simple: To keep people or things at a place that they work from.
   - _The airline bases most of its fleet in Denver._
   - _Officials decided to base the new unit in the capital._
23. To act as the base, supporting and lifting the flyer in an acrobatic routine.
   - Simple: To support another performer by holding them up from the ground.
   - _She learned to base before she was ever allowed to fly._
   - _Spotters watch closely whenever beginners base for the first time._

## Noun

3. The lowest part of something, on which it rests or by which it is attached (the base of a statue, a column, a leaf).
   - Simple: The bottom part of something, which it stands on or grows from.
   - _The statue rests on a heavy granite base._
   - _Engineers reinforced the tower's base to withstand high winds._
4. A usually permanent site or structure for housing military personnel and equipment.
   - Simple: A place with buildings where soldiers live and work.
   - _Troops were transferred to a base in the north._
   - _The military closed several overseas bases last year._
5. A foundation or starting point from which something develops or draws support, such as an idea, fact, or set of assumptions.
   - Simple: An idea or fact that something else is built on or starts from.
   - _A strong base of trust supports any lasting friendship._
   - _Her years as a nurse gave her a solid base for a career in medicine._
6. Everyone who regularly patronizes, uses, or supports a particular business, organization, product, or performer.
   - Simple: The group of people who often buy from, use or support a business, product or performer.
   - _The app's user base doubled in the year after it added group chats._
   - _The charity hopes the new campaign will widen its base beyond older donors._
7. Any of the four marked spots a runner may stand on without being tagged out while the ball is in play.
   - Simple: One of the four spots in baseball where a runner is safe from being tagged out.
   - _She tagged the runner before he could get back to the base._
   - _With two outs, the coach told him to steal the next base._
9. The main ingredient or material to which other things are added, such as onions in a curry or the binder in paint.
   - Simple: The main part of a mixture that other things are added to.
   - _The chef started the curry with a base of onions and garlic._
   - _Many perfumes share a similar base of musk and sandalwood._
10. The main place from which a person or organization works or operates, such as a company's headquarters.
   - Simple: The main place where the leaders of a group make their decisions.
   - _The charity runs all its campaigns from a single base downtown._
   - _Activists set up a base to coordinate the protests._
11. The voters who can be counted on to back one party's candidates in nearly every election.
   - Simple: The group of voters who almost always support one political party.
   - _The candidate energized his base with a fiery speech._
   - _Losing the support of its base cost the party the election._
12. A designated safe zone in children's games such as tag and hide-and-seek, where a player cannot be caught.
   - Simple: A safe spot in games like tag where you cannot be caught.
   - _The old oak tree was base, and whoever touched it first couldn't be tagged._
   - _Playing hide-and-seek, he stuck close to base all afternoon, darting out only when it looked safe._
13. Any of a class of substances that react with acids to neutralize them, forming salts; in modern terms, a substance that accepts hydrogen ions (protons). Those that dissolve in water turn red litmus paper blue.
   - Simple: A substance that reacts with an acid and cancels it out. In water, many turn red litmus paper blue.
   - _The chemist added a base to neutralize the acidic solution._
   - _Strong bases like sodium hydroxide can burn the skin._
15. The side of a polygon, or the face of a solid such as a cone or pyramid, from which its height is measured.
   - Simple: The side of a flat shape, or the face of a solid shape, that you measure its height from.
   - _To find a triangle's area, multiply the base by the height and divide by two._
   - _A cone standing on its base is far harder to topple than one on its tip._
16. A cosmetic cream applied to make the face appear uniform in tone.
   - Simple: A cream you put on your face first to make your skin look even.
   - _The makeup artist blended a creamy base across the model's skin._
   - _She chose a base that matched her complexion._
18. The number that is raised to the power of an exponent.
   - Simple: The number that gets multiplied by itself a certain number of times.
   - _In the expression 5³, five is the base and three is the exponent._
   - _Logarithms can use different numbers as their base._
19. The nucleobase component of a nucleotide as it occurs within a DNA or RNA polymer.
   - Simple: One of the chemical units in DNA or RNA that carry genetic information.
   - _Adenine is the base that normally pairs with thymine in DNA._
   - _A single change to one base can alter the protein a gene produces._
20. A morpheme, or group of morphemes, that provides the foundation to which affixes are attached.
   - Simple: The main part of a word that other parts attach to.
   - _The base 'form' takes both a prefix and a suffix in 'reformation.'_
   - _Adding affixes to a single base can yield dozens of related words._
21. The number of distinct digits, including zero, used to represent numbers in a positional numeral system; a radix.
   - Simple: The number that a counting system is built on, like ten in everyday math.
   - _Hexadecimal uses a base of sixteen, with letters standing in for ten through fifteen._
   - _Converting a number from one base to another is a routine exercise._
22. In hand-to-hand balancing, the performer who stays in contact with the ground and supports the flyer.
   - Simple: The person who stays on the ground and holds up another performer.
   - _As the base, he braced his arms to hold the flyer overhead._
   - _The whole routine fails if the base loses her footing._
24. Freebase cocaine; the smokable, alkaloidal form of the drug. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A smokable form of the drug cocaine.
   - _Police seized several grams of base during the late-night raid._
   - _By the late eighties, base had spread through the whole neighborhood._
25. In aviation, short for base leg: the part of a landing circuit flown at right angles to the runway, just before the turn onto final approach. — Ellipsis of base leg.
   - Simple: Short form of base leg. It's the part of a landing path just before the final turn toward the runway.
   - _After the downwind leg, the aircraft turned onto base._
   - _A gust on base pushed the plane wide of the centerline._
26. The controlling terminal of a bipolar junction transistor.
   - Simple: The connection on a transistor that controls how much current flows through the other two.
   - _A tiny current into the base controls a much larger current between collector and emitter._
   - _Biasing the base correctly keeps the transistor in its active region._

## Adjective

8. Serving as the starting or standard figure or level, excluding any extras, additions, or adjustments.
   - Simple: Being the normal or starting amount or level of something, before anything extra is added.
   - _The base price of the cruise looks cheap until you add drinks and excursions._
   - _Sales staff earn a modest base salary plus commission on every contract they close._
14. Morally low and contemptible; showing dishonorable or cowardly character.
   - Simple: Very bad or dishonest in a way that shows no honor.
   - _Abandoning the wounded was seen as a base and cowardly choice._
   - _She refused to stoop to such base behavior for money._
17. Of metal, not precious, such as copper or lead; of coins, made of or mixed with such cheap metal.
   - Simple: Of metal, cheap and not precious, like copper or lead rather than gold or silver.
   - _Counterfeiters often plate base metals with a thin layer of gold._
   - _The alloy combined a noble metal with several base ones._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Low in physical place or position; situated near the bottom.
- (noun) A chemical that fixes dye to fabric so the color holds.
- (noun) In a coat of arms, the bottom third of the shield, or a band of color filling that lower area.
- (noun) In topology, a collection of open sets such that every open set of the space is a union of members of the collection.
- (noun) The space that a covering space, fiber bundle, or fibration projects down onto.
- (noun) In group theory, a list of points such that only the identity element of a permutation group leaves all of them fixed at once.
- (noun) An older spelling of bass, the lowest male singing voice or the lowest part in a piece of music.
- (noun) A very small cannon, the lightest kind once used.
- (noun) A decorative cloth covering laid over a horse.
- (noun) A skirt of rich fabric such as velvet, hanging from the waist to the knee or below, worn in the 1500s.
- (noun) Armor for the hips and thighs, made of mail or metal plates in the shape of the cloth garment of the same name.
- (noun) The bottom portion of a gown or underskirt.
- (noun) A cloth worn over the front of the body to protect the clothes.
- (noun) In surveying, a line measured with great precision that serves as the starting reference for locating other points through a network of triangles.
- (noun) In Marxist theory, the economic system of production, including its forces and the ties between workers and owners, on which the rest of society rests.
- (verb) To smoke cocaine in its freebase form.
- (adjective) Not tall, having little height.
- (adjective) Having little worth, or being of a low level or grade.
- (adjective) Of humble birth or low rank in society, belonging to the common people.
- (adjective) Poor in quality and of little worth.
- (adjective) Born to parents who were not married to each other.
- (adjective) Of a language, departing from the correct or classical form.
- (adjective) An old spelling of bass, meaning deep or low in pitch.
- (adjective) Of feudal landholding, granted in return for humble labor, such as a villein's, that was thought unfit for nobles.
- (noun) A children's chasing game, also called prisoner's base, in which caught players are held as captives.
- (noun) Lowercase spelling of BASE, as in base jumping: parachuting from a building, antenna, bridge span, or cliff.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7, 9–13, 15–16, 18–26** — Ancient Greek βάσις (básis) became Latin basis, then Old French base and Middle English base. Basis is a doublet.
**Meanings 8, 14, 17** — Late Latin bassus ("low") gave Old French bas and then Middle English base. Spanish bajo and Italian basso are related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/base (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).