base

Adjective

• debased; not genuine
  • an attempt to eliminate the base coinage
    

• illegitimate

• having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality
  • 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
    

• not adhering to ethical or moral principles
  • base and unpatriotic motives
    
  • a base, degrading way of life
    
  • cheating is dishonorable
    
  • they considered colonialism immoral
    
  • unethical practices in handling public funds
    

• (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal
  • base coins of aluminum
    
  • a base metal
    

• of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense)
  • baseborn wretches with dirty faces
    
  • of humble (or lowly) birth
    

• serving as or forming a base
  • the painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats
    

Noun

• (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector

• a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit
  • a tub should sit on its own base
    

• the principal ingredient of a mixture
  • 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
    

• the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area
  • the industrial base of Japan
    

• (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
  • thematic vowels are part of the stem
    

• 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

• the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end

• (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place
  • 10 is the radix of the decimal system
    

• the most important or necessary part of something
  • the basis of this drink is orange juice
    

• the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed
  • the base of the triangle
    

• any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water
  • bases include oxides and hydroxides of metals and ammonia
    

• a phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA)

• a support or foundation
  • the base of the lamp
    

• the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
  • the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture
    

• a lower limit
  • the government established a wage floor
    

• (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment
  • the base of the skull
    

• the bottom or lowest part
  • the base of the mountain
    

• a place that the runner must touch before scoring
  • he scrambled to get back to the bag
    

• lowest support of a structure
  • it was built on a base of solid rock
    
  • he stood at the foot of the tower
    

• installation from which a military force initiates operations
  • the attack wiped out our forward bases
    

Verb

• use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes

• situate as a center of operations
  • we will base this project in the new lab
    

• use as a basis for; found on
  • base a claim on some observation
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  baseborn , mean , meanspirited , immoral , humble , lowly , basal , infrastructure , root , root word , stem , theme , radical , al-Qaeda , Qaeda , al-Qa'ida , al-Qaida , Base , home , radix , basis , alkali , nucleotide , pedestal , stand , foundation , fundament , groundwork , cornerstone , floor , bag , foot , subs