primary

primary
    adj 1: of first rank or importance or value; direct and
           immediate rather than secondary; "primary goals"; "a
           primary effect"; "primary sources"; "a primary interest"
           [ant: {secondary}]
    2: not derived from or reducible to something else; basic; "a
       primary instinct"
    3: most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main
       doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of
       America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were primary
       targets"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch" [syn:
       {chief(a)}, {main(a)}, {primary(a)}, {principal(a)},
       {master(a)}]
    4: of or being the essential or basic part; "an elementary need
       for love and nurturing" [syn: {elementary}, {elemental},
       {primary}]
    5: of primary importance [syn: {basal}, {primary}]
    n 1: a preliminary election where delegates or nominees are
         chosen [syn: {primary}, {primary election}]
    2: one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer
       edge of a bird's wing [syn: {primary}, {primary feather},
       {primary quill}]
    3: (astronomy) a celestial body (especially a star) relative to
       other objects in orbit around it
    4: coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that
       changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring
       circuit; "current through the primary coil induces current in
       the secondary coil" [syn: {primary coil}, {primary winding},
       {primary}]
    

Primary \Pri"ma*ry\, a. [L. primarius, fr. primus first: cf. F.
   primaire. See {Prime}, a., and cf. {Premier}, {Primero}.]
   1. First in order of time or development or in intention;
      primitive; fundamental; original.
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            The church of Christ, in its primary institution.
                                                  --Bp. Pearson.
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            These I call original, or primary, qualities of
            body.                                 --Locke.
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   2. First in order, as being preparatory to something higher;
      as, primary assemblies; primary schools.
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   3. First in dignity or importance; chief; principal; as,
      primary planets; a matter of primary importance.
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   4. (Geol.) Earliest formed; fundamental.
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   5. (Chem.) Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by,
      some quality or property in the first degree; having
      undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
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   {Primary alcohol} (Organic Chem.), any alcohol which possess
      the group {CH2.OH}, and can be oxidized so as to form a
      corresponding aldehyde and acid having the same number of
      carbon atoms; -- distinguished from {secondary & tertiary
      alcohols}.

   {Primary amine} (Chem.), an amine containing the amido group,
      or a derivative of ammonia in which only one atom of
      hydrogen has been replaced by a basic radical; --
      distinguished from {secondary & tertiary amines}.

   {Primary amputation} (Surg.), an amputation for injury
      performed as soon as the shock due to the injury has
      passed away, and before symptoms of inflammation
      supervene.

   {Primary axis} (Bot.), the main stalk which bears a whole
      cluster of flowers.

   {Primary colors}. See under {Color}.

   {Primary meeting}, a meeting of citizens at which the first
      steps are taken towards the nomination of candidates, etc.
      See {Caucus}.

   {Primary pinna} (Bot.), one of those portions of a compound
      leaf or frond which branch off directly from the main
      rhachis or stem, whether simple or compounded.

   {Primary planets}. (Astron.) See the Note under {Planet}.

   {Primary qualities of bodies}, such are essential to and
      inseparable from them.

   {Primary quills} (Zool.), the largest feathers of the wing of
      a bird; primaries.

   {Primary rocks} (Geol.), a term early used for rocks supposed
      to have been first formed, being crystalline and
      containing no organic remains, as granite, gneiss, etc.;
      -- called also {primitive rocks}. The terms Secondary,
      Tertiary, and Quaternary rocks have also been used in like
      manner, but of these the last two only are now in use.

   {Primary salt} (Chem.), a salt derived from a polybasic acid
      in which only one acid hydrogen atom has been replaced by
      a base or basic radical.

   {Primary syphilis} (Med.), the initial stage of syphilis,
      including the period from the development of the original
      lesion or chancre to the first manifestation of symptoms
      indicative of general constitutional infection.

   {Primary union} (Surg.), union without suppuration; union by
      the first intention.
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Primary \Pri"ma*ry\, n.; pl. {Primaries}.
   1. That which stands first in order, rank, or importance; a
      chief matter.
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   2. A primary meeting; a caucus.
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   3. (Zool.) One of the large feathers on the distal joint of a
      bird's wing. See {Plumage}, and Illust. of {Bird}.
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   4. (Astron.) A primary planet; the brighter component of a
      double star. See under {Planet}.
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PRIMARY. That which is first or principal; as primary evidence, or that 
evidence which is to be admitted in the first instance, as distinguished 
from secondary evidence, which is allowed only when primary evidence cannot 
be had. 
     2. A primary obligation is one which is the principal object of the 
contract; for example, the primary obligation of the seller is to deliver 
the thing sold, and to transfer the title to it. It is distinguished from 
the accessory or secondary obligation to pay damages for not doing so. 1 
Bouv. Inst. n. 702. 
    

215 Moby Thesaurus words for "primary":
      Maxwell triangle, Munsell scale, ab ovo, abecedarian, aboriginal,
      all-absorbing, antenatal, anterior, arch, austere, autochthonous,
      banner, bare, basal, basic, basilar, beginning, bottom, budding,
      by-election, capital, cardinal, caucus, central, champion, chaste,
      chief, chromatic circle, chromatic spectrum, chromaticity diagram,
      closed primary, color circle, color cycle, color index,
      color mixture curve, color solid, color spectrum, color system,
      color triangle, complementary color, congressional election,
      constituent, constitutive, contested election, controlling,
      creative, crowning, crucial, demitint, direct, direct primary,
      dominant, earliest, election, elemental, elementary, embryonic,
      essential, fetal, first, firsthand, focal, fore, forehand,
      foremost, formative, forward, foundational, front, frontal,
      full color, fundamental, fundamental colors, general election,
      generative, genetic, germinal, gestatory, great, gut, half tint,
      halftone, head, headmost, hegemonic, highest, homely, homespun,
      homogeneous, hue cycle, immediate, in embryo, in its infancy,
      in ovo, in the bud, inaugural, inceptive, inchoate, inchoative,
      incipient, incunabular, indivisible, infant, infantile, initial,
      initiative, initiatory, introductory, inventive, irreducible,
      leading, magisterial, maiden, main, mandatory primary, master,
      material, mere, metamer, monochrome, monolithic, nascent, natal,
      nonpartisan primary, of a piece, of the essence, open primary,
      optional primary, original, overriding, overruling, paramount,
      partisan election, parturient, pioneer, plain, postnatal,
      predominant, preeminent, preference primary, pregnant, premier,
      prenatal, preponderant, presidential election,
      presidential preference primary, presidential primary, prevailing,
      primal, primary color, primary election, prime, primeval,
      primitive, primogenial, primordial, principal, pristine,
      procreative, protogenic, prototypal, pure, pure and simple,
      pure color, radical, ranking, referendum, rudimental, rudimentary,
      ruling, runoff, runoff election, runoff primary, secondary,
      secondary color, seminal, severe, simon-pure, simple, single,
      solar spectrum, sovereign, spare, spectral color, spectrum,
      spectrum color, star, stark, stellar, substantial, substantive,
      supereminent, supreme, tertiary, tertiary color, topflight,
      topmost, ultimate, unadorned, unadulterated, uncluttered, uncopied,
      underived, underlying, undifferenced, undifferentiated,
      unduplicated, unexampled, uniform, unimitated, unmixed,
      unprecedented, unreproduced, uppermost, ur