(primaries)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to describe something that is very important. (FORMAL)
That’s the ~ reason the company’s share price has held up so well...
His misunderstanding of language was the ~ cause of his other problems...
= main
ADJ: ADJ n
2.
Primary education is given to pupils between the ages of 5 and 11. (BRIT; in AM, use elementary )
Britain did not introduce compulsory ~ education until 1880...
...~ teachers.
ADJ: ADJ n
3.
Primary is used to describe something that occurs first.
It is not the ~ tumour that kills, but secondary growths elsewhere in the body...
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
A ~ or a ~ election is an election in an American state in which people vote for someone to become a candidate for a political office. Compare general election .
...the 1968 New Hampshire ~...
N-COUNT