adverb

• 1In the most essential respects; fundamentally.

  ‘we started from a basically simple idea’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Like so many excellent ideas, the school bus scheme is basically simple.’
  • ‘Most complexity in the world is introduced to cover up the fact that life is basically quite simple to sustain.’
  • ‘This is basically very simple, and some of you may noticed that I threatened to say this.’
  • ‘Most times I manage it but sometimes I'll have to avoid a room or an area because I'm basically too afraid to go in.’
  • ‘When the prisoner is brought down from the truck, he is basically motionless.’
  • ‘I've had a few albums bought for me before, but I'm basically illiterate when it comes to popular music.’
  • ‘Note, most of my quotes are not dead on accurate, but are basically correct.’
  • ‘That also means that the approach is basically situational or historical.’
  • ‘We needed that phase of denunciation, but now our analysis is basically complete.’

  Synonyms

  fundamentally, primarily, principally, chiefly, essentially, elementally, firstly, predominantly

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1sentence adverb Used to indicate that a statement summarizes the most important aspects, or gives a roughly accurate account, of a more complex situation.
     ‘I basically played the same thing every night’
     More example sentences

     • ‘He's just given quite a long statement but is basically reasserting his innocence.’
     • ‘That symbolic statement basically freed him from all the pain he was in.’
     • ‘Her eyes snapped up, basically indicating that she was indeed jealous.’
     • ‘This is growing in complexity, but basically you take your basic state pension and add it to any other income.’
     • ‘We'll only have ourselves to blame when the thieves empty our accounts and max out our credit cards, basically.’
     • ‘It was basically names, addresses, credit card details, account numbers and so on.’
     • ‘I think we made the best out of this whole situation, the whole weekend, basically.’
     • ‘They basically have to undergo a complete lifestyle change which will stick with them for the rest of their lives.’
     • ‘What they are basically saying is that the state must fund rail because there isn't enough road capacity.’
     • ‘It basically turned a potato into a mushy mess that was completely inedible.’
     • ‘This basically triangulates the phone's position within the cell it is currently receiving a signal from.’
     • ‘This is not such a bad idea: it's basically how the PC industry and the web succeeded.’
     • ‘That has seen the numbers soar and we've basically no idea how many are in the city.’
     • ‘There have been numerous improvements to this idea but basically it remains the same.’
     • ‘Look, you sell a whole commerce idea and then basically say it would be better to use your eyes.’
     • ‘I am not in favour of the monarchy in principle but am basically in favour of the monarchy in practice.’
     • ‘To pet your puppy, you basically stroke the bottom screen with your stylus or finger.’
     • ‘He put some tape around one toe and the next one along, as a kind of splint, but basically it's just a waiting game.’
     • ‘A. It is essential because we are basically living in our cars all the time.’
     • ‘We had basically no idea where we were going, we were just with my uncle and my aunt and our cousins.’