elementary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɛlɪˈmɛntəɹi/
ipa: /ˌɛlɪˈmɛntɹi/
enpr: ĕl'ə-mĕn′tə-rē
enpr: -trē
ipa: /ˌɛləˈmɛntəɹi/
ipa: /ˌɛləˈmɛntɹi/
rhymes: -ɛntəɹi
rhymes: -ɛntɹi
Forms: form: more elementary
form: most elementary
form: elementar
form: elem
Etymology: From Middle English elementare, from Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire. By surface analysis, element + -ary.
Senses: glosses: Relating to the basic, essential or fundamental part of something.
glosses: Very simple.
glosses: Relating to an elementary school.
examples: text: The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
ref: 2012 March 24, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
topics: sciences
glosses: Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
glosses: Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
Relating to a subatomic particle.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
Involving only a single reaction step and transition state.
raw_tags: of a reaction
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
Which performs a row or column operation on another matrix when the two are multiplied; see Elementary matrix on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Such matrices are called "elementary" because they generate the general linear group).
raw_tags: of a square matrix
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Fundamental: serving as a building block for more complicated structures or processes.
Arising from Vieta's formulas; see Elementary symmetric polynomial on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
raw_tags: of a symmetric polynomial
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Straightforward, employing only basic techniques; not requiring substantial knowledge (of some particular domain, object, etc.).
raw_tags: of an argument or proof
topics: mathematics
number-theory
sciences
glosses: Straightforward, employing only basic techniques; not requiring substantial knowledge (of some particular domain, object, etc.).
Making no use of complex analysis.
qualifier: mostly historical outside the phrase "Elementary number theory"
raw_tags: of an argument or proof
glosses: Sublunary; not celestial; belonging to the sublunary sphere, to which the four classical elements (earth, air, fire and water) were confined; composed of or pertaining to these four elements.
Derived terms: elementarily
elementariness
elementarism
elementary algebra
elementary cellular automaton
elementary charge
elementary equivalence
elementary function
elementary matrix
elementary, my dear Watson
elementary particle
elementary school
elementary schooler
elementary substance
elementary symmetric polynomial
elementary topos
monoelementary
nonelementary
postelementary
subelementary
superelementary
unelementary