basicadjective
uk/ˈbeɪ.sɪk/us/ˈbeɪ.sɪk/B1 simple and not complicated, so able to provide the base or starting point from which something can develop:
I really need to get some basic financial advice.
He only has a basic command of English (= he only knows the most important and simple words and expressions).
The basic (= most important) problem is that they don't talk to each other enough.
It's the most basic model (= it only has the most simple features).
The crisis has led to price rises in basic foodstuffs, such as meat, cheese, and sugar.
slang disapproving boring and not unusual or surprising in any way:
All the music they like is so basic.
basic pay, salary, wage, etc. UK US usually base pay, salary, wage, etc.
what a person earns before other amounts of money, such as payments for working extra hours, are added:
She earns a basic salary of £450K per annum.
More examples
- They lack basic foodstuffs, such as bread and milk.
- The course gives you basic instruction in car maintenance.
- She's teaching me some basic dance steps.
- Twice a week the children are tested in basic mathematical skills such as addition and subtraction.
- The basic facts of the story are starting to emerge though the details are still unclear.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Crude and basic
- 101
- at bottom idiom
- backward
- bare
- bottom
- crude
- elementary
- low-tech
- Mickey Mouse
- primal
- primordial
- rough
- rough and ready idiom
- rude
- simple
- skeletal
- stone-age
- two-dimensional
- vanilla
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