Collins English-English Dictionary

primary ['praɪmərɪ]

1. 1. adj first in importance, degree, rank, etc

2. 2. n a local meeting of voters registered with one party to nominate candidates, select convention delegates, etc primary election

3. 3. adj first in position or time, as in a series

4. 4. adj fundamental; basic

5. 5. adj being the first stage; elementary

6. 6. adj [prenominal] of or relating to the education of children up to the age of 11

7. 7. adj (of the flight feathers of a bird's wing) growing from the manus

8. 8. adj being the part of an electric circuit, such as a transformer or induction coil, in which a changing current induces a current in a neighbouring circuit

   a primary coil

9. 9. adj (of a current) flowing in such a circuit - Compare secondary

10. 10. adj (of a product) consisting of a natural raw material; unmanufactured

11. 11. adj (of production or industry) involving the extraction or winning of such products. Agriculture, fishing, forestry, hunting, and mining are primary industries - Compare secondary tertiary

12. 12. adj [chem] (of an organic compound) having a functional group attached to a carbon atom that is attached to at least two hydrogen atoms

13. 13. adj (of an amine) having only one organic group attached to the nitrogen atom; containing the group NH₂

14. 14. adj (of a salt) derived from a tribasic acid by replacement of one acidic hydrogen atom with a metal atom or electropositive group

15. 15. adj [linguistics] derived from a word that is not a derivation but the ultimate form itself. Lovable is a primary derivative of love

16. 16. adj (of Latin, Greek, or Sanskrit tenses) referring to present or future time - Compare historic

17. 17. adj [geology] relating to magmas that have not experienced fractional crystallization or crystal contamination

18. 18. n a person or thing that is first in rank, occurrence, etc

19. 19. n a preliminary election in which the voters of a state or region choose a party's convention delegates, nominees for office, etc - See also closed primary direct primary open primary

20. 20. n See primary colour

21. 21. n any of the flight feathers growing from the manus of a bird's wing

22. 22. n a primary coil, winding, inductance, or current in an electric circuit

23. 23. n [astronomy] a celestial body around which one or more specified secondary bodies orbit

    the sun is the primary of the earth

24. 24. n [Etymology] C15: from Latin primarius of the first rank, principal, from primus first