primary

1. primary (adj) — sense 1

Definition: First or earliest in a group or series.

Example: Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school.

2. primary (adj) — sense 2

Definition: Main; principal; chief; placed ahead of others.

3. primary (adj) — sense 3

Definition: Earliest formed; fundamental.

Example: Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.

4. primary (noun) — sense 4

Definition: A primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party, or the first round of a two-round election.

Example: In recent primaries, for example, nearly 4% of absentees were rejected in Philadelphia; 8% in Kentucky; and 20% in parts of New York City.

5. primary (noun) — sense 5

Definition: The first year of grade school.

6. primary (noun) — sense 6

Definition: A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.

7. primary (verb) — sense 7

Definition: To challenge (an incumbent sitting politician) for their political party's nomination to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election, especially one that is more ideologically extreme.

Example: In the New England town where he ran a “couple of night clubs” . he was “primarying the mayor."

8. primary (verb) — sense 8

Definition: To take part in a primary election.

Example: Both were worried that Bailey would break some of their delegate commitments to keep them from primarying.