The difference between Primary and Prime
When used as nouns, primary means a primary election, whereas prime means the first hour of daylight.
When used as verbs, primary means to knock out an incumbent in the primary election, typically used referring to a non-incumbent challenger, whereas prime means to prepare a mechanism for its main work.
When used as adjectives, primary means the first in a group or series, whereas prime means first in importance, degree, or rank.
check bellow for the other definitions of Primary and Prime
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Primary as an adjective:
The first in a group or series.
Examples:
"Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school."
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Primary as an adjective:
Main; principal; placed ahead of others.
Examples:
"Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock."
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Primary as an adjective (geology):
Earliest formed; fundamental.
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Primary as an adjective (chemistry):
Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
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Primary as an adjective (medicine):
Relating to the place where a disorder or disease started to occur.
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Primary as an adjective (medicine):
Relating to day-to-day care provided by health professionals such as nurses, general practitioners, dentists etc.
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Primary as a noun:
A primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party.
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Primary as a noun:
The first year of grade school.
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Primary as a noun:
A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.
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Primary as a noun:
The most massive component of a gravitationally bound system, such as a planet in relation to its satellites.
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Primary as a noun:
A primary school.
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Primary as a noun (ornithology):
Any flight feather attached to the manus (hand) of a bird.
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Primary as a noun:
A primary colour.
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Primary as a noun (medicine):
Primary site of disease; original location or source of the disease.
Examples:
"unknown primary'"
"most common primaries'"
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Primary as a noun (electronics):
A directly driven inductive coil, as in a transformer or induction motor that is magnetically coupled to a secondary
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Primary as a verb (US, transitive):
To knock out an incumbent in the primary election, typically used referring to a non-incumbent challenger.
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Primary as a verb (US, intransitive):
To take part in a primary election.
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Primary as a verb (US, politics):
To challenge an incumbent sitting politician for their political party's endorsement to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election
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Prime as an adjective:
First in importance, degree, or rank.
Examples:
"Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe."
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Prime as an adjective:
First in time, order, or sequence.
Examples:
"Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals."
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Prime as an adjective:
First in excellence, quality, or value.
Examples:
"This is a prime location for a bookstore."
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Prime as an adjective (mathematics, lay):
Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
Examples:
"Thirteen is a prime number."
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Prime as an adjective (mathematics, technical):
Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
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Prime as an adjective (mathematics):
Having its complement closed under multiplication: said only of ideals.
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Prime as an adjective:
Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
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Prime as an adjective:
Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
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Prime as an adjective (obsolete):
Lecherous; lustful; lewd.
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Prime as a noun (historical):
The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
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Prime as a noun (Christianity):
The religious service appointed to this hour.
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Prime as a noun (obsolete):
The early morning generally.
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Prime as a noun (now, _, rare):
The earliest stage of something.
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Prime as a noun:
The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
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Prime as a noun:
The chief or best individual or part.
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Prime as a noun (music):
The first note or tone of a musical scale.
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Prime as a noun (fencing):
The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
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Prime as a noun (algebra, number theory):
A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
Examples:
"3 is a prime."
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Prime as a noun (card games):
A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
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Prime as a noun (backgammon):
Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.
Examples:
"I'm threatening to build a prime here."
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Prime as a noun:
The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
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Prime as a noun (chemistry, obsolete):
Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1.
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Prime as a noun:
An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
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Prime as a noun (obsolete):
The priming in a flintlock.
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Prime as a noun (film):
Contraction of prime lens, a film lens
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Prime as a verb (transitive):
To prepare a mechanism for its main work.
Examples:
"You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump."
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Prime as a verb (transitive):
To apply a coat of primer paint to.
Examples:
"I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat."
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Prime as a verb (obsolete, intransitive):
To be renewed.
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Prime as a verb (intransitive):
To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
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Prime as a verb (intransitive, of a steam boiler):
To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.
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Prime as a verb:
To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
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Prime as a verb:
To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.
Examples:
"to prime a witness"
"The boys are primed for mischief."
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Prime as a verb (UK, dialect, obsolete):
To trim or prune.
Examples:
"to prime trees"
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Prime as a verb (math):
To mark with a prime mark.
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Prime as a noun (cycling):
An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
Compare words:
Compare with synonyms and related words:
- greatest vs prime
- main vs prime
- primary vs prime
- prime vs principal
- prime vs top
- earliest vs prime
- first vs prime
- original vs prime
- excellent vs prime
- indivisible vs prime
- coprime vs prime
- bloom vs prime
- blossom vs prime
- efflorescence vs prime
- flower vs prime
- flush vs prime
- heyday vs prime
- peak vs prime
- choice vs prime
- prime vs prize
- prime vs quality
- prime vs select
- prime vs prime number
- composite vs prime
- ground vs prime
- prime vs undercoat