1. (

• base ,
• base_of_operations

) installation from which a military force initiates operations; "the attack wiped out our forward bases" ;

2. (

• foundation ,
• base ,
• fundament ,
• foot ,
• groundwork ,
• substructure ,
• understructure

) lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" ;

3. (

• base ,
• bag ,

) a place that the runner must touch before scoring; "he scrambled to get back to the bag" ;

4. (

• base

) the bottom or lowest part; "the base of the mountain" ;

5. (

• base

) (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment; "the base of the skull" ;

6. (

• floor ,
• base ,

) a lower limit; "the government established a wage floor" ;

7. (

• basis ,
• base ,
• foundation ,
• fundament ,
• groundwork ,
• cornerstone

) the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained; "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture" ;

8. (

• base ,
• pedestal ,
• stand

) a support or foundation; "the base of the lamp" ;

9. (

• nucleotide ,
• base ,

) a phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) ;

10. (

• base ,
• alkali

) any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water; "bases include oxides and hydroxides of metals and ammonia" ;

11. (

• base

) the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed; "the base of the triangle" ;

12. (

• basis ,
• base

) the most important or necessary part of something; "the basis of this drink is orange juice" ;

13. (

• base ,
• radix

) (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place; "10 is the radix of the decimal system" ;

14. (

• base ,
• home ,

) the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end ;

15. (

• al-Qaeda ,
• Qaeda ,
• al-Qa'ida ,
• al-Qaida ,
• al_Qaeda ,
• al_Qaida ,
• Base

) a terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries ;

16. (

• root ,
• root_word ,
• base ,
• stem ,
• theme ,
• radical ,

) (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" ;

17. (

• infrastructure ,
• base ,

) the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area; "the industrial base of Japan" ;

18. (

• base ,

) the principal ingredient of a mixture; "glycerinated gelatin is used as a base for many ointments"; "he told the painter that he wanted a yellow base with just a hint of green"; "everything she cooked seemed to have rice as the base" ;

19. (

• base ,

) a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit; "a tub should sit on its own base" ;

20. (

• base ,

) (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector ;

1. (

• establish ,
• base ,
• ground ,
• found

) use as a basis for; found on; "base a claim on some observation" ;

2. (

• base ,

) situate as a center of operations; "we will base this project in the new lab" ;

3. (

• free-base ,
• base

) use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes ;

1. (

• basal ,
• base

) serving as or forming a base; "the painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats" ;

2. (

• base ,
• baseborn ,
• humble ,
• lowly

) of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense); "baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or lowly) birth" ;

3. (

• base

) (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal; "base coins of aluminum"; "a base metal" ;

4. (

• base ,
• immoral

) not adhering to ethical or moral principles; "base and unpatriotic motives"; "a base, degrading way of life"; "cheating is dishonorable"; "they considered colonialism immoral"; "unethical practices in handling public funds" ;

5. (

• base ,
• mean ,
• meanspirited

) having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality; "that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble"- Edmund Burke; "taking a mean advantage"; "chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort"- Shakespeare; "something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics" ;

6. (

• base ,
• baseborn

) illegitimate ;

7. (

• base

) debased; not genuine; "an attempt to eliminate the base coinage" ;