rudimentary

comparative more rudimentary · superlative most rudimentary

1. Of or relating to one or more rudiments; of the nature of an early stage.

   The state of moral and social feeling, prevalent in legendary Greece, exhibits a scene in harmony with the rudimentary political fabric just described.

   1846, George Grote, “State of Society and Manners as Exhibited in Grecian Legend”, in History of Greece, volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, part I (Continuation of Legendary Greece), page 107

   Synonyms: immature, imperfect, rudimental, undeveloped

2. Basic; minimal; with less than, or only the minimum, necessary.

   I have only a rudimentary grasp of chemistry.

   5 more examples

   His grasp of rudimentary English allowed him at least to do the shopping.

   His rudimentary driving skills meant that he was a danger on the road.

   In these they discarded the barbarous school-books then in use, put the rudimentary study of the languages on a better footing, devoted themselves, for the sake of religion, to those accomplishments which religion had hitherto disdained; […]

   1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Ancient Literature in Europe, from 1550 to 1600”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, section I (Progress of Classical Learning—[…]), paragraph 25, page 35

   Using a tractor fan, shock absorbers, PVC pipes, a bicycle frame and anything else he [William Kamkwamba] could lay his hands on, he then built a rudimentary wooden tower, plonked his home-made generator on the top, and eventually got one, and then four bulbs to light up.

   2009 October 2, John Vidal, “'Tilting at windmills: the boy who harnessed the wind'”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Sep 2013

   Safdar, in his rudimentary ambulance, has been at the frontline of the shifting conflicts consuming his city, placing himself at huge personal risk for very little money.

   2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2017

   Synonyms: modest, stripped down, rudimental, austere, bare, bare-bones, bargain, basic

plural rudimentaries

1. plural normallybiologyOne of the rudimentary (adjective sense 1) mammae of boars.

   A litter of nine pigs was farrowed, four of the boars having rudimentaries, and one lacking them, while three of the sows lacked rudimentaries and the fourth possessed them.

   1916 May 5, Edward N. Wentworth, “Rudimentary Mammæ in Swine a Sex-Limited Character”, in Science, volume XLIII (New Series), New York, N.Y.: The Science Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 648, column 1