base

/beɪs/
/beɪs/
IPA guide

Other forms: based; bases; baser; basest; basing

The base of something is usually the foundation, starting point, or main ingredient of something. A soup base is the flavoring or broth you use to get your soup started.

If you're a soldier, you might live on a base ("place where you're stationed"). When your unit plays softball, you must touch each base before scoring. The bottom of pentagon-shaped home plate is its base ("bottom"). Yelling at or pushing the umpire is considered base ("mean-spirited") behavior. At end of the season, your team might get a trophy, which sits on a base ("pedestal"), or a plaque made of brass, an alloy of zinc, which is base metal (it corrodes easily).

Definitions of base
  1. noun
    lowest support of a structure
    “it was built on a base of solid rock”
    synonyms: foot, foundation, fundament, groundwork, substructure, understructure
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    bed
    a foundation of earth or rock supporting a road or railroad track
    raft foundation
    a foundation (usually on soft ground) consisting of an extended layer of reinforced concrete
    railroad bed
    a bed on which railroad track is laid
    roadbed
    a bed supporting a road
    type of:
    support
    supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation
  2. noun
    a support or foundation
    “the base of the lamp”
    synonyms: pedestal, stand
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    brass monkey
    a metal stand that formerly held cannon balls on sailing ships
    staddle
    a base or platform on which hay or corn is stacked
    trivet
    a stand, often with short feet, used under a hot dish on a table
    trivet
    a three-legged metal stand for supporting a cooking vessel in a hearth
    type of:
    support
    any device that bears the weight of another thing
  3. noun
    a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit
    “a tub should sit on its own base”
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    type of:
    bottom, underside, undersurface
    the lower side of anything
  4. noun
    the bottom or lowest part
    “the base of the mountain”
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    type of:
    part, piece
    a portion of a natural object
  5. noun
    the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed
    “the base of the triangle”
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    type of:
    flank
    a subfigure consisting of a side of something
  6. noun
    (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment
    “the base of the skull”
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    type of:
    bottom
    the lowest part of anything
  7. noun
    a lower limit
    synonyms: floor
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    types:
    price floor
    floor below which prices are not allowed to fall
    wage floor
    floor below which wages are not allowed to fall
    type of:
    control
    the economic policy of controlling or limiting or curbing prices or wages etc.
  8. adjective
    serving as or forming a base
    “the painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats”
    synonyms: basal
    basic
    pertaining to or constituting a base or basis
  9. noun
    the most important or necessary part of something
    synonyms: basis
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    type of:
    component, component part, constituent, moiety, part, portion
    something determined in relation to something that includes it
  10. noun
    the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
    synonyms: basis, cornerstone, foundation, fundament, groundwork
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    types:
    meat and potatoes
    the fundamental part
    type of:
    assumption, supposal, supposition
    a hypothesis that is taken for granted
  11. noun
    the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end
    synonyms: home
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    type of:
    location
    a point or extent in space
  12. noun
    installation from which a military force initiates operations
    “the attack wiped out our forward bases”
    synonyms: base of operations
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    air base, air station
    a base for military aircraft
    army base
    a large base of operations for an army
    firebase
    an artillery base to support advancing troops
    navy base
    base of operations for a naval fleet
    rocket base
    a military base for rocket missiles
    type of:
    military installation
    any facility servicing military forces
  13. noun
    the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area
    “the industrial base of Japan”
    synonyms: infrastructure
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    type of:
    fund, stock, store
    a supply of something available for future use
  14. noun
    (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
    synonyms: radical, root, root word, stem, theme
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    type of:
    descriptor, form, signifier, word form
    the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something
  15. noun
    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”
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    type of:
    ingredient
    a component of a mixture or compound
  16. verb
    use as a basis for; found on
    “base a claim on some observation”
    synonyms: establish, found, ground
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    types:
    build
    found or ground
  17. verb
    situate as a center of operations
    “we will base this project in the new lab”
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    type of:
    locate, situate
    determine or indicate the place, site, or limits of, as if by an instrument or by a survey