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basal

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Being a group, or member of a group, which diverged earlier.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

baysuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbeɪsəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. chiefly systematics

    In a phylogenetic tree, being a group, or member of a group, which diverged earlier. The earliest clade to branch in a larger clade.

  2. Basic, elementary; relating to, or forming, the base, or point of origin.

  3. medicine

    Of a minimal level that is necessary for maintaining the health or life of an organism.

  4. anatomy

    Associated with the base of an organism or structure.

noun

  1. Base, bottom, minimum

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: In a phylogenetic tree, being a group, or member of a group, which diverged earlier. The earliest clade to branch in a larger clade.

Used this way, basal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • abecedarian , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Associated

basal body

Basal

basal part

Other combinations

basal cellbasal metabolismbasal areabasal laminabasal layerbasal portion

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • basal body temperature method of family planningnounCompound term

    Natural family planning in which the fertile period of the woman's menstrual cycle is inferred by noting the rise in basal body temperature that typically occurs with ovulation.

  • basal ganglionnounCompound term

    Any of several masses of subcortical grey matter at the base of each cerebral hemisphere that seem to be involved in the regulation of voluntary movement.

  • basal metabolic ratenounCompound term

    The rate at which heat is produced by an individual in a resting state.

  • basal metabolismnounCompound term

    The amount of energy required to maintain the body of an individual in a resting state.

  • basal placentationnounCompound term

    Where one or few ovules develop at the base of a simple or compound ovary.

  • basal temperaturenounCompound term

    Body temperature in the morning before rising or moving about or eating anything.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: in a phylogenetic tree or being a group

abecedarianRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.