elementary
ele·men·tary
adjective
1.
easy and not involved or complicated
- “an elementary problem in statistics”
- “elementary, my dear Watson”
- “a simple game”
- “found an uncomplicated solution to the problem”
Origin
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.
Phrases
- elementary algebra
- elementary cellular automaton
- elementary charge
- elementary equivalence
- elementary function
- elementary matrix
- elementary particle
- elementary, my dear Watson
Related words
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.