1
as in main
coming before all others in importance
the primary concern for many house hunters is the asking price
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in chief
highest in rank or authority
the movie's primary screenwriter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in preliminary
coming before the main part or item usually to introduce or prepare for what follows
a few minutes of primary instruction in the use of our diving gear before we actually got into the water
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of primary
There’s a lot of stuff in the ocean, and marine debris tends to aggregate in the same places as does the whale sharks’ primary prey.
—
JSTOR Daily, 24 Oct. 2025
Ingoglia and DeSantis want Florida voters to mandate tax cuts through constitutional amendments next year, which could include eliminating property taxes on primary residences.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Whether this technology becomes the primary corporate payment infrastructure depends largely on performance during economic stress periods.
—Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
Trump declared Mar-a-Lago his primary residence in 2019.
—Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for primary
JSTOR Daily, 24 Oct. 2025
Ingoglia and DeSantis want Florida voters to mandate tax cuts through constitutional amendments next year, which could include eliminating property taxes on primary residences.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Whether this technology becomes the primary corporate payment infrastructure depends largely on performance during economic stress periods.
—Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
Trump declared Mar-a-Lago his primary residence in 2019.
—Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for primary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for primary
Adjective
-
His officials at the time, including Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger, made Beijing their main priority.—
Mira Rapp-Hooper,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Reinhart, Apa, Petsch, and Mendes were four of only six Riverdale main cast members to stay on for the full series run.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The inspirations for the Love Connection parody were Miami Vice's Tubbs and Crockett, though Hall acknowledged her most immediate lookalike.—
Lex Goldstein,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
-
After Gustav in 2008, the US provided $100,000 in immediate emergency assistance to non-governmental organizations working in humanitarian relief in Cuba.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
After all avenues have been exhausted for finding out who these people are, the chief medical examiner of Alexandroupoli calls the chief imam of Sidiro, which is a Muslim Greek village.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Its chief investment vehicle is Humain, a homegrown company that is building out a full stack of data centers, cloud capabilities, large language models and applications.—
Tala Alrajjal,
CNN Money,
2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Still, the election turned into a nailbiter, as preliminary results indicated a narrow victory for D66, while the PVV briefly pulled ahead towards the end of the count.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
31 Oct. 2025
-
The officials noted, however, that the reports over her cause of death were preliminary and not yet confirmed to be as a result of the storm.—
Matt Nighswander,
NBC news,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
However, not all studies agree that methane is a direct cause of constipation.—
Emmanuella Ogbonna,
Health,
31 Oct. 2025
-
Vinicius Jr also thrived in the Italian’s counter-attacking tactical setup, which was designed at least in part to suit his pace and direct running, and delivered the club’s two most recent Champions League trophies in 2022 and 2024.—
Dermot Corrigan,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Despite the massive buildout, Al Khateeb assured the crowd that protecting the natural environment remains a foremost concern of Saudi Arabia’s government.—
Angelica Ang,
Fortune,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The unscripted series pairs Snooki with Kevin Whitaker, one of Canada’s foremost psychic mediums.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Pacific Ridge School, an independent, co-ed, college preparatory day school in Carlsbad, started its 19th academic year with the Annual Trustee Dinner.—
News Release,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Those preparatory projects included the installation of new capping roofs to weatherproof the buildings for a long period of care and maintenance, as well as the rerouting of electrical supplies and de-planting of boiler equipment.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Despite the concerns around African democracy, Afrobarometer’s annual African Insights survey shows voting in elections remains the predominant form of political and civic engagement, with nearly three-quarters of respondents voting in their country’s elections last year.—
Yinka Adegoke,
semafor.com,
27 Oct. 2025
-
That confident tight-wire act, with its time shifts and various mini-characterizations, was a useful precedence for her here as the predominant presence in this three-performer, intermissionless piece.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
14 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Primary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/primary. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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