noun
- Installation from which a military force initiates operations.
- usage: "the attack wiped out our forward bases"
- synonyms: base of operations
- Lowest support of a structure.
- usage: "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower"
- synonyms: foundation, fundament, foot, groundwork, substructure, understructure
- A place that the runner must touch before scoring.
- usage: "he scrambled to get back to the bag"
- synonyms: bag
- The bottom or lowest part.
- usage: "the base of the mountain"
- Anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment. (
- usage: "the base of the skull"
- A lower limit.
- usage: "the government established a wage floor"
- synonyms: floor
- The fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained.
- usage: "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture"
- synonyms: basis, foundation, fundament, groundwork, cornerstone
- A support or foundation.
- usage: "the base of the lamp"
- A phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA.
- synonyms: nucleotide
- Any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water.
- usage: "bases include oxides and hydroxides of metals and ammonia"
- synonyms: alkali
- The bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed.
- usage: "the base of the triangle"
- The most important or necessary part of something.
- usage: "the basis of this drink is orange juice"
- synonyms: basis
- Numeration system. ( the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place)
- usage: "10 is the radix of the decimal system"
- synonyms: radix
- The place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end.
- synonyms: home
- A terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries.
- Linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed. (
- usage: "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
- The stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area.
- usage: "the industrial base of Japan"
- synonyms: infrastructure
- The principal ingredient of a mixture.
- usage: "glycerinated gelatin is used as a base for many ointments"; "he told the painter that he wanted a yellow base with just a hint of green"; "everything she cooked seemed to have rice as the base"
- A flat bottom on which something is intended to sit.
- usage: "a tub should sit on its own base"
- Electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector. (
verb
- Use as a basis for; found on.
- usage: "base a claim on some observation"
- Situate as a center of operations.
- usage: "we will base this project in the new lab"
- Use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes.
- synonyms: free-base
adjective
- Serving as or forming a base.
- usage: "the painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats"
- synonyms: basal
- Of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense))
- usage: "baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or lowly. birth"
- Used of metals. ( consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal)
- usage: "base coins of aluminum"; "a base metal"
- Not adhering to ethical or moral principles.
- usage: "base and unpatriotic motives"; "a base, degrading way of life"; "cheating is dishonorable"; "they considered colonialism immoral"; "unethical practices in handling public funds"
- synonyms: immoral
- Having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality.
- usage: "that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble- Edmund Burke; "taking a mean advantage"; "chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort- Shakespeare; "something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics"
- synonyms: mean, meanspirited
- Illegitimate.
- synonyms: baseborn
- Debased; not genuine.
- usage: "an attempt to eliminate the base coinage"