# prime

Pronunciation: say "PRYM" /pɹaɪ̯m/

## Adjective

1. First in importance, degree, or rank; chief above all others.
   - Simple: Most important, or higher than all others in rank.
   - _Cutting costs was the board's prime objective for the year._
   - _Keeping workers safe is the company's prime concern on every job._
2. First in excellence, quality, or value; of the highest grade.
   - Simple: Of the very best quality, value, or worth.
   - _The vineyard reserves its prime grapes for a single small-batch wine._
   - _Beachfront lots here remain prime real estate despite the high taxes._
5. Of an integer, having exactly two whole-number factors: itself and one.
   - Simple: Describes a whole number greater than one that can be divided evenly only by itself and one.
   - _Thirteen is prime, since its only divisors are one and itself._
   - _The program checks whether each candidate number is prime before storing it._
9. First in time, order, or sequence; coming before all the rest.
   - Simple: Earliest in time, or first in order or sequence.
   - _Philosophers debated whether motion required a prime mover that started everything._
   - _The prime meridian sets the starting point from which longitude is counted._
13. Bearing or distinguished by the prime symbol (′), used to mark a related but distinct quantity.
   - Simple: Marked with the small symbol ′, used to tell two similar things apart.
   - _In the moving frame, the time is written as t prime instead of t._
   - _The reflected triangle is labeled A prime B prime C prime._
15. Of a number or element that is neither zero nor a unit, such that whenever it divides a product, it divides at least one of the factors.
   - Simple: Describing a number that, if it divides two numbers multiplied together, always divides one of them.
   - _A prime element divides one of the factors whenever it divides their product._
   - _In any ring, a nonzero element that is not a unit is prime if it always divides a factor of any product it divides._
18. Of a proper ideal in a commutative ring: such that the complement of the ideal is closed under multiplication.
   - Simple: In algebra, describing an ideal where multiplying any two outside members always gives another outside member.
   - _An ideal is prime when the product of two elements outside it also lies outside it._
   - _In the integers, the prime ideals are generated by the prime numbers and zero._
19. Of a module, having the property that every nonzero submodule has exactly the same annihilator as the module as a whole.
   - Simple: In higher algebra, describing a module where each nonzero part is sent to zero by the same elements as the whole.
   - _A module is prime when every nonzero submodule shares the same annihilator as the module itself._
   - _Prime modules generalize the notion of a prime ideal to module theory._

## Noun

3. The stage or period during which someone or something is most active, thriving, or successful.
   - Simple: The best and strongest time in someone's life or work.
   - _The orchard reached its prime about ten years after planting._
   - _At thirty, the sprinter was in the prime of her career and winning every race._
6. An element of a mathematical structure with no nontrivial divisors, most familiarly a whole number divisible only by one and itself.
   - Simple: A whole number greater than one that can be divided evenly only by itself and one.
   - _Eleven is a prime, while twelve breaks down into two, two, and three._
   - _The sieve of Eratosthenes is a simple way to list small primes._
10. A business or organization that ranks first in importance or standing, such as a lead defense contractor or major mortgage lender.
   - Simple: A company or group that is the most important or top-ranked in its field.
   - _The agency selected an established prime to oversee the entire weapons program._
   - _The big defense primes hand out much of their work to smaller companies._
11. Short form of prime lens: a camera lens with a single fixed focal length, as opposed to a zoom.
   - Simple: Short form of prime lens: a camera lens that cannot zoom in or out.
   - _He swapped the zoom for a sharp prime before the close-up shots._
   - _Their kit included a row of primes covering every common focal length._
12. A small raised stroke (′) that stands for feet or minutes, marks a derivative, and serves in various other measurements and mathematical notations.
   - Simple: The mark ′ used in writing to show feet, minutes, or some math operations.
   - _In her notes, a single prime after the variable marked the first derivative._
   - _The surveyor added a prime to the figure to record it in feet._
16. The first hour of daylight, reckoned from sunrise; also the canonical hour following lauds, or the Christian service appointed for that hour and recited in the early morning.
   - Simple: The early morning hour after sunrise, or the church prayer service said at that time.
   - _Medieval monks sang prime at sunrise, soon after the earlier service of lauds._
   - _By the time the abbey bell rang for prime, the brothers were already working in the fields._

## Verb

4. To prepare someone or something for use or action, including by giving information, instruction, or coaching beforehand.
   - Simple: To make someone or something ready, sometimes by giving information or practice beforehand.
   - _Negotiators primed both sides for a long round of talks._
   - _Managers prime new hires with a week of orientation before any real work._
7. To apply a coat of primer paint to a surface in preparation for the final coats.
   - Simple: To put a first coat of special paint on a surface before painting it.
   - _The crew primed the bare drywall before the first finish coat._
   - _Always prime new wood so the paint adheres evenly._
8. To fill or prepare the chamber of a device so that it is ready for its main task.
   - Simple: To fill or get the inside of a machine ready so it can start working.
   - _Before pulling the cord, he primed the mower by pressing the rubber bulb._
   - _You have to prime an old well pump with water before it will draw anything up._
14. To apply priming powder to a musket or cannon, or fit a primer into a cartridge, so it will ignite; of powder, to serve as the priming that sets off the main charge.
   - Simple: To put a small amount of powder or a primer in a gun so the main charge will fire.
   - _Gunners would prime the cannon with fine powder before the order to fire._
   - _The reloader primed each cartridge before seating the bullet._
17. To mark a symbol, letter, or number with the prime sign (′).
   - Simple: To add a small ′ mark to a letter or number.
   - _When the value shifts, we prime the variable and write x′._
   - _She primed each coordinate to distinguish the rotated figure from the original._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The chief or best individual or part within a larger whole.
- (adjective) Being in the early, fresh, blooming first stage of growth or life.
- (noun) A stimulus that causes priming, influencing how a person responds to related information shortly afterward.
- (noun) The first note or tone on which a musical scale begins.
- (noun) An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize or points to the rider who wins it.
- (noun) In fencing, the first defensive guard or parry, with the wrist turned over, the hand raised, and the blade pointing down to cover the inside line.
- (noun) In backgammon, a series of consecutive occupied points forming a wall that blocks the opponent's pieces from advancing.
- (noun) In the card game primero, a four-card hand holding exactly one card of each of the four suits: the reverse of a poker flush.
- (adjective) Full of sexual desire, randy.
- (noun) The first hours after dawn, considered broadly.
- (noun) The beginning phase of anything, when it is new.
- (noun) A number in older chemistry giving an element's equivalent weight, the amount that combines with or replaces one part of hydrogen.
- (noun) An inch, regarded in the duodecimal system as made up of twelve smaller units.
- (noun) The powder in the pan of a flintlock that ignites the main charge.
- (noun) A wing feather of a male ostrich that is as light in color as possible.
- (verb) To become new or fresh again.
- (verb) Of a steam boiler, to boil so violently that it foams and sends water out mixed into the steam.
- (verb) To cut back branches or shoots of a plant.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5–6, 9–13, 15–16, 18–19** — From Middle English prime, from Old French prime and its source, Latin prīmus ("first"), going back through Proto-Italic to the Proto-Indo-European root *per- ("beyond, before"). The symbol sense comes from the mark ′ once being a superscript Roman numeral one.
**Meanings 4, 7–8, 14, 17** — Connected with primage and, further back, with the Latin word primus, meaning "first."

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