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How to pronounce primary
Say it like this: /ˈpɹaɪˌmɛɹ.i/. Listen to real recordings below and compare how it sounds in different accents.
What does primary mean?
adjFirst or earliest in a group or series.
“Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school.”
Main; principal; chief; placed ahead of others.
Earliest formed; fundamental.
“Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.”
nounA primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party, or the first round of a two-round election.
“In recent primaries, for example, nearly 4% of absentees were rejected in Philadelphia; 8% in Kentucky; and 20% in parts of New York City.”
The first year of grade school.
A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.
verbTo challenge (an incumbent sitting politician) for their political party's nomination to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election, especially one that is more i
“These instances of “primarying,” according to many, make Congress more partisan and extreme.”
To take part in a primary election.
“Both were worried that Bailey would break some of their delegate commitments to keep them from primarying.”
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Pronunciations and meanings from Wiktionary via kaikki.org, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Recordings by Wikimedia Commons contributors. This page is shared under the same license.