Fundamental - Definition

adj 1: serving as an essential component; "a cardinal rule";
"the central cause of the problem"; "an example that was
fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental
to modern industrial structure" [syn: cardinal,
central, fundamental, key, primal]
2: being or involving basic facts or principles; "the
fundamental laws of the universe"; "a fundamental
incomatibility between them"; "these rudimentary truths";
"underlying principles" [syn: fundamental, rudimentary,
underlying]
3: far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the
nature of something; "the fundamental revolution in human
values that has occurred"; "the book underwent fundamental
changes"; "committed the fundamental error of confusing
spending with extravagance"; "profound social changes" [syn:
fundamental, profound]
n 1: any factor that could be considered important to the
understanding of a particular business; "fundamentals
include a company's growth, revenues, earnings, management,
and capital structure"
2: the lowest tone of a harmonic series [syn: fundamental,
fundamental frequency, first harmonic]