Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, located at, or forming a base.
- adj. Botany Located at or near the base of a plant stem, or at the base of any other plant part: basal placentation.
- adj. Of primary importance; basic.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to the base; constituting the base; fundamental.
- Pertaining to the base of a part or organ. On or near the base: as, a basal mark.
- Nearest the base: as, the basal joint, or the four basal joints of an insect's antenna.
- In ichthyology, of or pertaining to the basalia. See basale.
- In the wings of Diptera, one of the elongate cells near the base of the wing between the second and fifth or second and sixth longitudinal veins; they are numbered, the first being the one nearest the costal margin.
- n. One of the basal joints of the branches of a crinoid, bearing the radials.
- n. In ichthyology, the basisphenoid.
- In a typical solitary coral, as Caryophyllia, that part of the skeleton which is between the zoöid and the surface of attachment.
- n. Same as genital plate (which see, under genital).
Wiktionary
- adj. Relating to, or forming, the base, or point of origin.
- adj. In a phylogenetic tree, being a group, or member of a group, which diverged earlier.
- n. anatomy Any basal structure or part
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Relating to, or forming, the base.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem
- adj. serving as or forming a base
- adj. of primary importance
Etymologies
- base + -al (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Does the term basal tear excite your sympathy, or reflex tear ignite a shower of certain understanding?”
“In time, a slow and steady rise in basal cell calcium levels leads to activation of calcineurin, which in turn leads to nuclear importation of the transcription factor NFAT (Nuclear Factor of T-cells).”
“Furthermore, while the cochleal canal is shorter, and the promontorium is smaller, in basal mammaliaforms than is the case in mammals (Luo et al. 1995), Morganucodon in more mammal-like in these features than are more basal mammaliaforms (like Sinoconodon).”
“During the 1970s and 80s emphasis in basal whale research began to shift from Africa to Asia, at first because Sahni & Mishra (1972) described primitive whale remains discovered in India, and later as West (1980) figured and identified lower jaw specimens from Pakistan.”
“This method of ovulation prediction is called the basal body temperature guide or BBT Using the BBT involves taking your temperature every day for at least two months.”
“This is what is referred to as your basal metabolic rate BMR.”
“The disease-induced destruction of these cells, which are called "basal forebrain cholinergic" BFC neurons, is key to the progression of Alzheimer's.”
“Well, actually, there were ‘sea snakes’ in the Mesozoic – that is, marine members of Serpentes – but they weren’t close relatives of modern sea snakes, rather they were far more basal within the snake family tree (though how basal is the subject of contentious debate).”
“In a study on the distribution of an ossified Meckel’s cartilage in basal mammals, Meng et al. (2003) noted that the medial dentary scar seen in Chronoperates might not house post-dentary bones, as Fox et al. proposed, but instead a persisting Meckel’s cartilage.”
“To establish the first, Hoover showed samples from meteorites of forms that appeared to have cells and cell walls, that were in the process of splitting or otherwise reproducing, that were attached to the rock with what he identified as a primitive stalk called a basal heterocyst, and that had lived in what appeared to be colonies of microbes known to coexist on Earth.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘basal’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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Words beginning with B
birefringence, bureau, blot, barter, beyond, blunder, byre, byrgius, bowl, baste, bastardsawed, bastel house and 44 more...
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Reading Vocab
ulterior, warrant, syllogism, precious, impiety, maroon, aigrette, batiste, topsy-turvy ago, midnight crush, cantankerous, slovenly and 180 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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my words
interminable, effete, convocation, philistines, malaise, foibles, deputation, anathematized, morass, stalwart, proselytize, abet and 405 more...
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ginnylev's Words
neuroplasticity, repudiate, scintilla, ruminate, tautology, ombudsman, exigent, filibuster, grace, ambidextrous, amends, disclosure and 623 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3248 more...
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Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
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hberman's Words
miasma, inchoate, abstemious, entropy, perseverate, inveigle, prevaricate, threnody, bloviate, pusillanimous, chatelaine, chatoyant and 9 more...
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ScholarWords
disquisition, treatise, purvey, tangentially, stare decisis, cricket, semiotics, originative, morass, pot-au-feu, verstehen, enigmatical and 84 more...
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