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(Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative. Moore (Encyc. of Music). -- Primitive circle (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane. -- Primitive colors (Paint.),…

A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous. Specifically:

First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as. Newton's Principia.

A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.

ter, to the foundation to the ultimate sources to the principles, or the like: original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party. The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence. Burke.

In a radical manner; at, or from, the origin or root; fundamentally; as, a scheme or system radically wrong or defective.

A number or quantity which is arbitrarily made the fundamental number of any system; a base. Thus, 10 is the radix, or base, of the common system of logarithms, and also of the decimal system of numeration.

Necessarily assumed by the mind as fundamental to all other knowledge; furnishing fundamental principles; as, the regulative principles, or principles a priori; the regulative faculty. Sir W. Hamilton.

A fundamental change in political organization, or in a government or constitution; the overthrow or renunciation of one government, and the substitution of another, by the governed. The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them. Macaulay.…

ich the sounding tube is lengthened and shortened so as to produce the tones between the fundamental and its harmonics.

the angle subtended at the sun by the semidiameter of the earth. It is 8."80, and is the fundamental datum.

A fixed point or station; a basis or fundamental principle; a position from which objects or principles are viewed, and according to which they are compared and judged.

The fundamental material of which anything is made up; elemental part; essence. Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience To do no contrived murder. Shak.

The deepest pedal stop, or the lowest tones of an organ; the fundamental or ground bass. [Written also sub-base.] Ayliffe.

s, in petroleum refining, etc., and in general its manufacture is the most important and fundamental of all the chemical industries. Formerly called vitriolic acid, and now popularly vitriol, and oil of vitriol. -- Fuming sulphuric acid, or Nordhausen sulphuric acid. See Disulphuric acid, under Disulphuric. -- Sulphu…

ntian system, of or pertaining to that which can be determined a priori in regard to the fundamental principles of all human knowledge. What is transcendental, therefore, transcends empiricism; but is does not transcend all human knowledge, or become transcendent. It simply signifies the a priori or necessary condition…

The transcending, or going beyond, empiricism, and ascertaining a priori the fundamental principles of human knowledge.

The property of crystallizing in three forms fundamentally distinct, as is the case with titanium dioxide, which crystallizes in the forms of rutile, octahedrite, and brookite. See Pleomorphism.

wander; to play the truant. Shak. By this means they lost their time and truanted on the fundamental grounds of saving knowledge. Lowell.

Lying under or beneath; hence, fundamental; as, the underlying strata of a locality; underlying principles.