elementaryel‧e‧men‧ta‧ry /ˌeləˈmentəri◂/ ●●○ adjective 
the elementary principles of justice and democracy You’ve made a very elementary mistake.2[only before noun] concerning the first and easiest part of a subject: I’m only familiar with the subject at an elementary level. I know a little elementary science.3[only before noun] American English relating to elementary school SYN primary British English: elementary education4Elementary, my dear Watson. people sometimes use this expression humorously to say how easy something is to solve. Some people think that the phrase comes from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes says this to his friend Watson when explaining how easy it is to understand something about a crime. In fact, the phrase does not appear in the books.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- elementary education
- an elementary course in word-processing
- Billy is taking elementary algebra this year.
- She had difficulty with even the most elementary tasks.
- The right to defend itself is an elementary right of every state.
- How powerful this explosion would be would depend on how many different species of elementary particles there are.
- In many elementary classrooms there is a good deal of affection for children and various opportunities for active, hands-on learning.
- Most were given elementary training in another technical skill to facilitate harmony and cross-utilization.
- So the question is: What are the truly elementary particles, the basic building blocks from which everything is made?
- The 1988 Education Reform Act ought to mark the end of elementary education for the under-11s.
- Thom identifies seven elementary catastrophes as the only possible results when not more than four control factors are present.
Longman Language Activatorschools for children between the ages of about 5 and 12
in Britain, a school for children aged between five and eleven: · My father entered primary school in 1958.· Primary school children know more today than we did at that age.
in the US, a school for children aged between five and twelve in some places, and five and ten in other places: · In grade school, Karen sang in the school chorus.· The senator met with a group of elementary school students learning about how government works.
when methods, systems, explanations, or words are not complicated not complicated, and therefore easy to understand: · Speak slowly and use simple words so that everyone understands.· His children find European numbering simpler than the Chinese system.· There must be a perfectly simple explanation.be simple to do something: · Many vegetarian meals are delicious and simple to prepare.keep/make something simple: · The secret of successful dinner parties? Keep it simple.
simple - use this especially about explanations, instructions, and methods which contain nothing difficult or unexpected: · The new networking system is fairly straightforward - you shouldn't have any problems.· There are two straightforward ways of achieving this result.
simple and without any unnecessary features that could cause problems or confuse you: · Tom can now carry out uncomplicated tasks without help.· There are several basic techniques to learn, but they are uncomplicated enough to be mastered in one session.
a method or process that is unsophisticated is very simple compared to the most modern ones: · It may be a pretty unsophisticated system, but it has worked well for over fifty years.· In comparison with modern methods, it seems an incredibly slow and unsophisticated way of making cars.
needing only simple skills or knowledge to do or understand: · She had difficulty with even the most elementary tasks.· an elementary course in word-processing
English that people can easily understand, without any difficult or confusing words: in plain English: · I wish they'd write in plain English, instead of all this business jargon.· 'The theory of informed consent'? What does that mean, in plain English?
a rough and ready system, calculation, way of doing something etc uses a quick, simple method but ignores small details and therefore does not produce a completely perfect result: · Here are my calculations. They're a little rough and ready as yet, but you'll get a general idea.· Justice was administered in a rough and ready fashion, without using courts or juries.
WORD SETSacademy, nounadvanced, adjectiveAdvanced level, nounA level, nounA/S level, nounassembly, nounbaccalaureate, nounblazer, nounboard, verbboarder, nounboarding school, nounbursar, nouncane, nouncaretaker, nouncarnival, nounchurch school, nounclassroom, nounclasswork, nounCollege Boards, nouncomp, nouncomprehensive school, nounconvent school, nouncorporal punishment, nouncrammer, nounday boy, nounday girl, nounday pupil, nounday school, noundemerit, noundetention, noundictation, noundinner lady, noundiploma, noundomestic science, noundormitory, noundrill, noundrill, verbdriver's education, noundunce, noundunce's cap, nounelementary, adjectiveelementary school, nounfag, nounfeeder school, nounfinishing school, nounform, nounGCE, nounGCSE, noungrade, noungrade school, noungraduate, noungraduate, verbgraduation, noungrammar school, noungrant-maintained, adjectivehead boy, nounhead girl, nounheadmaster, nounheadmistress, nounheadship, nounhead teacher, nounhigh, nounhigh school, nounhome room, nounhomework, nounhonor roll, nounhouse, nounhousemaster, nounhousemistress, nounindustrial arts, nounintermediate school, nounintramural, adjectivejunior, nounjunior high school, nounjunior school, nounlollipop lady, nounmagnet school, nounmake-up, nounmaster, nounmatron, nounmiddle school, nounMilitary Academy, nounminus, adjectivemistress, nounmixed ability, adjectivemonitor, nounmultiplication table, nounO grade, nounold boy, nounold girl, nounO level, nounparochial school, nounPE, nounperiod, nounplus, adjectivepop quiz, nounpractical, nounprefect, nounprep, nounprep, verbpreparatory school, nounpreppy, adjectiveprep school, nounprimary, adjectiveprimary school, nounprimer, nounprivate education, nounprivate school, nounproject, nounPTA, nounPTO, nounpublic school, nounpupil, nounquiz, nounRE, nounrecess, nounreport, nounreport card, nounsatchel, nounschool board, nounschoolboy, nounschoolchild, nounschoolday, nounschool district, nounschoolgirl, nounschool governor, nounschoolhouse, nounschooling, nounschoolkid, nounschool-leaver, nounschoolmaster, nounschoolmate, nounschoolmistress, nounschoolroom, nounschoolteacher, nounschool tie, nounschoolwork, nounsecondary modern, nounsecondary school, nounsemester, nounseminary, nounsenior, nounsenior high school, nounset, nounsex education, nounshop, nounshow and tell, nounsixth form, nounsixth form college, nounsophomore, nounspecial education, nounspecial school, nounspeech day, nounsports day, nounstatement, verbstream, nounstream, verbsubject, nounsubstitute teacher, nounsummer camp, nounsummer school, nounsuperintendent, nounsupply teacher, nounsyllabus, nountermly, adjectivetheme, nountruant, noununit, nounupperclassman, nounupperclasswoman, nounupper school, nounvaledictorian, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY elementary educationCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1simple or basic: elementary education (=teaching different levels of a subject)· An advanced class might be available.
· an advanced course in art and design
· Your home could be at risk if you don't take some basic precautions.
American English· Her son is a high school student.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Only in their most elementary courses do other academic fields offer even a partial parallel.· The workers' ignorance compounds their poverty: everywhere, failure to follow the most elementary rules of diet makes undernourishment worse.· The most elementary lessons involved in studying ideas and consciousness seem to have been forgotten.· Figure 1 shows several of the most elementary transformations together with the rules that generate them.· Because otherwise we shall not even have the most elementary preconditions for this development ... By all means!· The most elementary form of camouflage is to match the background perfectly.· The process is difficult, and demands the performance of millions of calculations to reach even the most elementary prediction.· The most elementary way is to leave the material on its original sheets of blotting paper, piling them up on top of each other.
NOUN· Then, at last, elementary education will dies.· The specialists in elementary education meanwhile focus their attention on the methods and materials appropriate to elementary years.· They spend six years in elementary education and three years in junior high school.· In Brown v. Board of Education, which dealt specifically with elementary education, the Court took the final logical step.· It is no use trying to give technical teaching to our artisans without elementary education ....· There was universal elementary education in Britain - a century behind Prussia, and three behind Saxony.· Hence there was an extension of the powers of local government and the state intervened after 1870 to provide universal elementary education.· There was no association of elementary education with a prescribed period of childhood.
· At the elementary level of existence, many of them were desperate for basic necessities.
· However, I think that this ought to include a revision of the names of all the elementary particles.· According to quantum theory, elementary particles do not really exist until an intelligent observer measures them.· Quantum mechanics depicts space as a seething foam of uncertainty, with unimaginably short-lived elementary particles appearing and disappear ing.· At any one moment, there is a definite and finite set of possible futures for elementary particles.· So the question is: What are the truly elementary particles, the basic building blocks from which everything is made?· The elementary particles known as protons, which live at the heart of every atom, will begin to decay.· Research in theory and computation encompasses quantum field theories of elementary particles, neural networks and quantum chromodynamics.· How powerful this explosion would be would depend on how many different species of elementary particles there are.
· Technology and society generally is continuously in trouble because this elementary principle is forgotten or ignored by enthusiastic innovators.
· Like my contemporaries I first attended an elementary school, about which I remember only three things.· Education researchers have traced her poorer performance all the way back to elementary school.· The Education Act of 1870 set out to provide elementary schools for children up to a minimum age of ten throughout the country.· Optimal practice in elementary school language arts will have similar balance.· They studied third-and fourth-grade children at two elementary schools.· Some of the elite kindergartens and elementary schools also protest the advent of baby cram schools even while admitting their young alumni.· Big money will now be poured into cleansing the elementary schools of anti-phonics heresy.· What we learn in elementary school sets the foundation for a life of learning.
· Even elementary students in fourth and fifth grades have guns.· Modular buildings could also be placed on the La Cima site to house elementary students.· A Hartford school lunch costs 90 cents for elementary students, $ 1. 15 at middle and high schools.
the elementary principles of justice and democracy You’ve made a very elementary mistake.2[only before noun] concerning the first and easiest part of a subject: I’m only familiar with the subject at an elementary level. I know a little elementary science.3[only before noun] American English relating to elementary school SYN primary British English: elementary education4Elementary, my dear Watson. people sometimes use this expression humorously to say how easy something is to solve. Some people think that the phrase comes from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes says this to his friend Watson when explaining how easy it is to understand something about a crime. In fact, the phrase does not appear in the books.