fundamentally

adverb

fun·​da·​men·​tal·​ly ˌfən-də-ˈmen-tᵊl-ē 

: with regard to what is basic, essential, or fundamental : at a fundamental level

a fundamentally honest person

a fundamentally new/different approach

Most theories of the internal structure of Venus begin with the assumption that the planet is fundamentally similar to the earth …

—Andrew and Louise Young

: in a basic or fundamental manner

This "disposable" work force is the most important trend in business today, and it is fundamentally changing the relationship between Americans and their jobs.

—Janice Castro

Examples of fundamentally in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Orbital cargo transport, however, is a fundamentally different concept from the Concorde in several ways. — Euihyeon Choi, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2026

Kansas voters rejected Amendment 1, which sought to fundamentally remake the Kansas Supreme Court. — Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026

That distinction matters because AI is fundamentally shifting the economics of enterprise technology. — Japjeev Kohli, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

More fundamentally, Trump treats foreign policy as a series of bilateral transactions rather than a cohesive project designed to advance national security—and this applies to allies and adversaries alike. — Ariane Tabatabai, Time, 4 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fundamentally

• accidentally
• detrimentally
• governmentally
• incidentally
• incrementally
• instrumentally
• sentimentally
• temperamentally
• coincidentally
• environmentally
• experimentally
• mentally