primary
part of speech
adjective (primary); noun (a primary, primaries — mainly US: a vote to choose a party's candidate)
meaning for a pupil
1) Primary means first in importance; main. tree →
2) Primary means first in order or time. tree →
3) A primary school is the first school children go to, for about ages five to eleven. tree →
4) The primary colours are the colours that can be mixed to make many others. tree →
sense in the lessons
School: primary school (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand; in the USA «elementary school»). Art: in painting, the primary colours are red, yellow and blue; in light (screens) they are red, green and blue. Science and history: a primary source is a first-hand record from the time, like a letter or diary. Phrases: primary school, primary colours, primary source, of primary importance.
examples
- My little brother started primary school this term. tree →
- Red, yellow and blue are the primary colours in painting. tree →
- Mix two primary colours to make a secondary colour. tree →
- Our primary aim is to keep everyone safe. tree →
- A diary from the war is a primary source. tree →
- Grass is a primary food for cows. tree →
note
Not usually compared («more primary» is rare). Spelling: prim-ary. «Primary colours» in paint and in light are different sets — a common trap. Related: primarily (mainly).
In the corpora
- A book band is a colour level used in many UK primary schools to match early reading books to a child's reading.
- By the end of primary school, pupils are expected to edit their own work without being told each mistake.
- Luckily his primary head also wrote that Jake had improved a lot.
- Friendships at primary school change a lot as children grow, and that is normal, not a failure.
- In England the school curriculum says children should be able to swim at least 25 metres by the end of primary school.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «primary» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.