primary — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. First or earliest in a group or series.

   Examples

   Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school.

   the church of Christ, in its primary institution

   More examples (1)

   , Book II, Chapter VIII These I call original, or primary, qualities of body.

2. Main; principal; chief; placed ahead of others.

3. Earliest formed; fundamental.

   Examples

   Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.

4. Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.

5. Relating to the place where a disorder or disease started to occur.

6. Relating to day-to-day care provided by health professionals such as nurses, general practitioners, dentists etc.

Noun

1. A primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party, or the first round of a two-round election.

   Examples

   In recent primaries, for example, nearly 4% of absentees were rejected in Philadelphia; 8% in Kentucky; and 20% in parts of New York City.

   More examples (1)

   Before Americans pick a president in November, they get to pick the candidates in a series of primaries and caucuses. […] Biden could still win New Hampshire’s primary through a write-in campaign, but the first sanctioned Democratic contest is in South Carolina in February.

2. The first year of grade school.

3. A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.

4. The most massive component of a gravitationally bound system, such as a planet in relation to its satellites.

5. A primary school.

   Examples

   Excellence in Cities offers a further development of this approach, whereby secondary schools operate with small clusters of primaries as mini-EAZs.

6. Any flight feather attached to the manus (hand) of a bird.

   Examples

   `Good Lord, look at that swiftlet, it's got two primaries missing from its left wing!'

7. A primary colour.

   Examples

   By adding and subtracting the three primaries, cyan, yellow, and magenta are produced. These are called subtractive primaries.

8. The first stage of a thermonuclear weapon, which sets off a fission explosion to help trigger a fusion reaction in the weapon's secondary stage.

9. A radar return from an aircraft (or other object) produced solely by the reflection of the radar beam from the aircraft's skin, without additional information from the aircraft's transponder.

10. The primary site of a disease; the original location or source of the disease.

    Examples

    unknown primary

    most common primaries

11. A directly driven inductive coil, as in a transformer or induction motor that is magnetically coupled to a secondary.

Verb

1. To challenge (an incumbent sitting politician) for their political party's nomination to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election, especially one that is more ideologically extreme.

   Usage

   • US usage
   • Intransitive
   • Transitive

   Examples

   In the New England town where he ran a “couple of night clubs” . he was “primarying the mayor."

   More examples (2)

   What political facts of life underpin the hopes and dreams of democratic politicians who would take on the awesome task of “primarying” a two-term incumbent governor

   Each of the past few election cycles has featured at least one instance of “primarying,” a challenge to an incumbent on the grounds that he or she is not sufficiently partisan.

   The ad calls for loyal Tea Party members to step forward and run against all eighty-seven of the traitors in order to primary them.

   More examples (7)

   These instances of “primarying,” according to many, make Congress more partisan and extreme.

   According to Boatright, 774 instances of challengers “primarying” sitting House incumbents occurred between 1970 and 2010.

   Democrats have made “primarying” a key technique for shifting the balance of power in Congress to the left.

   In the last midterm election, every member of Congress who was defeated in a primary lost to a candidate who was more ideologically extreme. The message that sends to every other member is clear: If you work across the aisle to solve problems, prepare to be primaried and potentially defeated.

   Richard Hopkins, an epidemiologist who spent 19 years at the Florida Department of Health, told the Post, in reference to DeSantis administration officials, “They keep hoping it’s going to go away by itself. I don’t know what’s going on -- whether they’re afraid that they will get primaried by someone to their right if they take appropriate public health action.”

   Trump has most Republican congressmen leery of opposing him on any issue, mainly out of fear of getting "primaried" by a Trump loyalist.

   “My message to Kevin McCarthy is, take all of her committee assignments away … also, don’t support her when she runs for re-election again and try to get her primaried. If you say this is not your party, actually call it out and hold her accountable,” Hogg told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.”

2. To take part in a primary election.

   Usage

   • US usage
   • Intransitive
   • Transitive

   Examples

   Both were worried that Bailey would break some of their delegate commitments to keep them from primarying.

   More examples (1)

   First, I'd challenge my opponent for the convention nomination. If I didn't prevail at the convention, that would be my answer. I wouldn't “primary” him—meaning, I wouldn't force a statewide primary election if he and I were the only two candidates in the field.

   “That’s the fun part - finding out who’s the unknown person who may want to primary to get one of the positions,” Kolenberg said.

Adjective

1. of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary

   Antonyms

   secondary

   Examples

   primary goals

   a primary effect

   More examples (2)

   primary sources

   a primary interest

2. not derived from or reducible to something else; basic

   Examples

   a primary instinct

3. most important element

   Synonyms

   chiefmainprincipalmaster

   Examples

   the chief aim of living

   the main doors were of solid glass

   More examples (5)

   the principal rivers of America

   the principal example

   policemen were primary targets

   the master bedroom

   a master switch

4. of or being the essential or basic part

   Synonyms

   elementaryelementalbasal

   Examples

   an elementary need for love and nurturing

   a basal reader

Noun

1. a preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen

   Synonyms

   primary election

   Broader terms

   election

2. one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing

   Synonyms

   primary featherprimary quill

   Broader terms

   flight featherpinionquillquill feather

3. (astronomy) a celestial body (especially a star) relative to other objects in orbit around it

   Broader terms

   celestial bodyheavenly body

4. coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring circuit

   Synonyms

   primary coilprimary winding

   Broader terms

   coil

   Examples

   current through the primary coil induces current in the secondary coil