# primary

Pronunciation: US say "PRY-mair-ee" /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹi/; UK say "PRY-muh-ree" /ˈpɹaɪməɹi/

## Adjective

1. Most important or main; ranked ahead of all others in significance.
   - Simple: Most important, coming before everything else.
   - _The primary reason for the delay was bad weather._
   - _Reducing costs became the company's primary objective this year._
3. First or earliest in time, order, or development, especially as the original form from which later things develop.
   - Simple: First in time or order, often the starting point for what comes later.
   - _Children usually lose their primary teeth between the ages of six and twelve._
   - _Syphilis is easiest to treat in its primary stage, before it spreads through the body._
5. Relating to the everyday health care provided by professionals such as nurses, general practitioners, and dentists.
   - Simple: Having to do with the everyday health care you get from doctors, nurses, or dentists.
   - _Patients usually see a primary care provider before being referred to a specialist._
   - _Rural areas often lack primary health care, so families may drive for hours just to get a routine checkup._
7. Describing a disease or growth at the place in the body where it first began, as opposed to a place it has spread to later.
   - Simple: Describing a disease or tumor at the place in the body where it first started.
   - _The scan revealed a primary growth in the liver and several smaller secondary ones._
   - _Treatment depends on whether the primary disease is in the bone or elsewhere._
12. Displaying a property in the first degree, or, especially of chemical compounds, having gone through one stage of substitution.
   - Simple: Showing a quality at its first or simplest level, or having had just one part replaced.
   - _A primary alcohol carries its hydroxyl group on a carbon bonded to at most one other carbon._
   - _In a primary alcohol such as ethanol, the carbon carrying the hydroxyl group is attached to only one other carbon._
8. Having to do with the earliest stage of formal education, which children attend from roughly age five to eleven.
   - Simple: Having to do with the first years of school, for children aged about five to eleven.
   - _The state plans to spend more on primary education in its rural districts._
   - _Many primary teachers say their classes of seven-year-olds have grown too large._

## Noun

2. A preliminary election held to choose a political party's candidate, or the first round of a two-round election.
   - Simple: An early election where a party picks its candidate, or the first round of a two-round election.
   - _The senator faced a tough primary against two challengers from her own party._
   - _Turnout in the spring primary was higher than expected._
4. A school covering the earliest years of a child's education, before secondary school. *(British)*
   - Simple: A school for young children in their first years of learning.
   - _The new primary opened with three classes of five-year-olds._
   - _She spent her whole career teaching at one primary._
6. One of a set of basic colors mixed to produce other colors, such as red, blue, and yellow in traditional painting.
   - Simple: One of a set of basic colors mixed to make other colors, such as red, blue, or yellow in painting.
   - _On the screen, every shade is built from three primaries of light._
   - _Painters often keep one warm and one cool version of each primary on the palette._
10. The original location or source of a disease: the place in the body where it first developed, whether or not it has spread.
   - Simple: The first spot in the body where a disease began, whether or not it has spread.
   - _Imaging located the primary in the pancreas after months of uncertainty._
   - _When the primary is unknown, treatment targets the disease more broadly._
11. The most massive body in a gravitationally bound system, such as a planet relative to its moons.
   - Simple: The heaviest object in a group held together by gravity, such as a planet with its moons.
   - _In a binary star system, the brighter, heavier star serves as the primary._
   - _The spacecraft mapped the gas giant that acts as the primary for dozens of moons._
13. The first year or grade of formal schooling, a single class year rather than the school as a whole. *(Canada)*
   - Simple: The first year of school for young children.
   - _In Nova Scotia, children begin primary in the year they turn five, then move on to Grade 1._
   - _Her aunt has taught primary for twenty years and knows how to calm a nervous five-year-old on the first day._
14. Any of the flight feathers attached to the manus, or hand, of a bird's wing.
   - Simple: One of the long flight feathers attached to the outer part, or hand, of a bird's wing.
   - _Damage to even one primary can affect a hawk's ability to fly precisely._
   - _Molting birds replace their primaries in a set sequence to stay airworthy._
15. In a transformer or induction motor, the coil that receives power directly and is magnetically linked to a secondary coil.
   - Simple: The coil in a transformer or induction motor that receives power directly and transfers energy magnetically to a second coil.
   - _Alternating current in the primary induces a voltage across the secondary._
   - _Technicians measured the resistance of the primary before energizing the transformer._

## Verb

9. To challenge a politician, usually one already in office, for their party's nomination in a primary election; also, to run in a primary. *(US)*
   - Simple: To run in a primary election, especially against a member of your own party who already holds the office.
   - _Progressive organizers vowed to primary the veteran senator over her support for the bill._
   - _Party leaders warned that any member who backed the deal would be primaried next spring._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A base or fundamental component: something that cannot be reduced to anything simpler.
- (noun) The first stage of a thermonuclear weapon, producing a fission explosion that helps trigger the fusion reaction in the weapon's secondary stage.
- (noun) A radar return produced solely by the beam reflecting off an aircraft's skin, carrying no additional data from the aircraft's transponder.

## Origin

Latin prīmus ("first," which gave English prime) plus -ārius made prīmārius ("of the first rank; chief, principal; excellent"), the source of this borrowing. French primaire and premier are related, and premier is a doublet.

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