prime

play

noun \ ˈprīm \

Updated on: 26 Jul 2017

Definition of prime

1 a often capitalized :the second of the canonical hours

b :the first hour of the day usually considered either as 6 a.m. or the hour of sunrise

2 a :the earliest stage

b :spring

c :youth

3 :the most active, thriving, or satisfying stage or period

in the prime of his life

4 :the chief or best individual or part :pick

prime of the flock, and choicest of the stall
—Alexander Pope

5 :prime number

6 a :the first note or tone of a musical scale :tonic

b :the interval between two notes on the same staff degree

7 :the symbol ′ used to distinguish arbitrary characters (such as a and a′), to indicate a specific unit (such as feet or minutes of time or angular measure), or to indicate the derivative of a function (such as p′ or f′(x)) — compare double prime

8 :prime rate

See prime defined for English-language learners

See prime defined for kids

Examples of prime in a Sentence

young college graduates in the prime of life
The interest rate is two percent plus prime.

Recent Examples of prime from the Web

George is a top-10 player and a two-way wing on the right side of his prime, an asset more valuable than draft picks galore.

— lee jenkins, SI.com, "Paul George On OKC, The Trade, And KD's Advice," 11 July 2017
Modi, the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, arrived at a time of good relations between the two countries, which are marking 25 years of diplomatic ties.

— james masters, CNN, "Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi hit the beach to do business," 6 July 2017
He was replaced a few years later by Ehud Barak, the former prime minister who once famously apologized to Mizrahi voters for the party's previous misdeeds.

— aron heller, Jewish Journal, "Israel's Labor Party looks to rebrand with leadership vote," 5 July 2017
No other post-war British prime minister would be honored in such a way.

— rupert stone, National Review, "Margaret Thatcher: High Principle Joined to Power Politics," 5 July 2017
There has never been a Mizrahi prime minister, for example, and Ashkenazi Jews far outnumber Mizrahi Jews in areas like academia and the judiciary.

— aron heller, Jewish Journal, "Israel's Labor Party looks to rebrand with leadership vote," 5 July 2017
Its first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, was an incorrigible drunk.

— jeff d. colgan, Washington Post, "Canada turns 150 today — and it’s enjoying a new global role," 1 July 2017
Beckham, with years of prime ahead of him, can do the same.

— greg bishop, The MMQB, "The NFL's Optimism Season," 26 June 2017
In its prime, Dolphin had served the sailboat salmon fishing industry in Bristol Bay by towing the vessels out of port and later loading their catch on its open deck for transport to the canneries.

— doug capra, Alaska Dispatch News, "A 1945 ship, restored and ready to work another salmon run in Bristol Bay," 25 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prime.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of prime

Middle English, from Old English prīm, from Latin prima hora first hour

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

prime Synonyms

Other Calendar Terms

antedate, estival, gloaming, luster, sesquicentennial

prime

adjective

Definition of prime

1 :first in time :original

2 a :of, relating to, or being a prime number — compare relatively prime

b :having no polynomial factors other than itself and no monomial factors other than 1

a prime polynomial

c :expressed as a product of prime factors (such as prime numbers and prime polynomials)

a prime factorization

3 a :first in rank, authority, or significance :principal

a prime example

b :having the highest quality or value

prime farmland

c :of the highest grade regularly marketed —used of meat and especially beef

4 :not deriving from something else :primary

—

primely

adverb

—

primeness

noun

See prime defined for English-language learners

Examples of prime in a Sentence

The wine industry is of prime importance to the California economy.
The police have not yet named the prime suspect in the murder investigation.
The house is expensive because it's in a prime location.

Recent Examples of prime from the Web

May, on her first visit to Japan as prime minister, boarded a Japanese warship and attended a meeting of Japan’s National Security Council to underscore her country’s deepening security ties with Japan.

— Washington Post, "UK’s May reassures on Brexit, backs Japan on North Korea," 31 Aug. 2017
A Matter of Geography Santiago is bordered by some of the highest mountains in the Americas, making it a prime location for adventure sports—skiing in the mountains, mountain biking in the foothills, and surfing to the west.

— javiera quiroga, Bloomberg.com, "Adrenaline-Craving Bankers Are Driving a Surfing Boom in Chile," 30 Aug. 2017
He was appointed head of the presidential press service during Putin's first term in 2000, and has served as a spokesman for Putin in various roles since, moving with Putin into the government during his four years as prime minister.

— andrew roth, chicagotribune.com, "Kremlin says it got the Trump Tower email but didn't respond," 30 Aug. 2017
NASA, Marshall and prime contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering teamed up on the cone officially called the launch vehicle stage adapter.

— lee roop, AL.com, "Look at this part and imagine how just big NASA's new rocket will be," 30 Aug. 2017
In 1981, federal authorities arrested Black and nine others for plotting an invasion of the Caribbean island of Dominica to help put an ousted prime minister back in power.

— judy l. thomas, kansascity, "Missouri-based white supremacist website continues to operate as others are shut down," 28 Aug. 2017
The guy is going into his 15th season and appears to still be in his prime.

— drew davison, star-telegram, "Cowboys TE Jason Witten shows no signs of slowing down," 28 Aug. 2017
While the president of the United States can't help himself from staring into a solar eclipse, the prime minister of Canada is in the news for... a butter sculpture?

— lilian min, Cosmopolitan, "There's Nothing Butter Than This Sculpture of Justin Trudeau," 22 Aug. 2017
Before SNICK, prime-time Nickelodeon was the home of Nick at Nite, which featured reruns of classic shows like Bewitched and I Love Lucy.

— alex suskind, vanityfair.com, "Inside Nickelodeon’s Saturday Night Gamble," 15 Aug. 2017

Origin and Etymology of prime

Middle English, from Anglo-French, feminine of prim first, from Latin primus; akin to Latin prior

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

prime Synonyms

Synonyms

chief, commanding, first, foremost, high, lead, leading, preeminent, premier, presiding, primary, head, principal, supereminent, supreme, top

Antonyms

atrocious, awful, execrable, lousy, pathetic, poor, rotten, terrible, vile, wretched

Related Words

high-level, senior; controlling, directing, managing, officiating, overseeing, regnant, reigning, ruling, supervisory; main, major, paramount, predominant, predominate, sovereign (also sovran); ascendant (also ascendent), dominant, grand, superior, topmost, upmost, upper, uppermost

Near Antonyms

ancillary, inferior, last, less, lesser, lower, lowly, second, secondary, subordinate, subsidiary; assistant, assisting, coadjutor, deputy, junior, under

Other Business Terms

amortize, caveat emptor, clearinghouse, divest, due diligence, emolument, green-collar, marque, overhead, perquisite

prime

verb

Definition of prime

primed; priming

transitive verb

1 :fill, load

2 a :to prepare for firing by supplying with priming

b :to insert a primer into (a cartridge case)

3 :to apply the first color, coating, or preparation to

prime a wall

4 a :to put into working order by filling or charging with something

prime a pump with water

b :to supply with an essential prerequisite (such as a hormone, nucleic acid, or antigen) for chemical or biological activity

primed female mice with estrogen

5 :to instruct beforehand :coach

primed the witness

6 :stimulate

intransitive verb

:to become prime

— prime the pump

:to take steps to encourage the growth or functioning of something

See prime defined for English-language learners

Examples of prime in a Sentence

She was obviously primed for the questions at the press conference.
Both teams are primed for battle and ready to play.
We sanded and primed the woodwork before painting.

Recent Examples of prime from the Web

Few are in a position to prime the pump of recovery.

— The Economist, "Latin America’s disappointing economic growth," 20 July 2017
How to prime our vehicles to maneuver in those environments?

— WSJ, "Baidu’s Turnaround Strategy," 13 June 2017
The program's goal is pretty straightforward — the companies are investing to prime the area's engineering job pipeline and advance their own corporate goals.

— robert reed, chicagotribune.com, "Illinois, Indiana engineer a successful jobs program with Purdue Northwest," 19 May 2017
The money, which will be a mix of public and private funding, is intended to further prime the private investment pump.

— phillip morris, cleveland.com, "Cleveland's next mayor needs to know more than Jack: Phillip Morris," 14 May 2017
Certainly anticipating that this film will be as confusing as the last, Ridley Scott has shared a number of short films to prime us for Alien: Convenant.

— matt miller, Esquire, "Alien: Covenant Might Make More Sense Thanks to This New Short Film From Ridley Scott," 27 Apr. 2017

Origin and Etymology of prime

probably from ¹prime

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1513

See Words from the same year

Financial Definition of PRIME

prime

noun

What It Is

In the finance world, prime is short for prime rate, which is the interest rate commercial banks charge their most creditworthy customers, which are usually corporations.

How It Works

Anyone who has borrowed money knows that different banks charge different interest rates. So when people refer to the prime rate, they are usually referring to the average prime rate among banks. The Wall Street Journal is the most common source for this statistic. It calculates the average prime rate by surveying the 30 largest banks in the U.S. Below is a sample graph of the historical average prime rate published by the Federal Reserve, which surveys 25 banks across the nation.

In general, the rate is the same among nearly all the surveyed banks, and they tend to change their rates at the same time. When 75% of these banks (23 banks) change their rates, The Wall Street Journal changes its average.

Why It Matters

Prime is one of the most widely used market indicators, albeit a lagging one, and it is a major benchmark for mortgage and credit card rates. It is often the basis for adjustable-rate loans. For example, if a bank is offering a home equity loan at “prime plus 5” and its prime rate is 6%, then the bank is essentially offering borrowers an 11% loan (6% + 5%) whose interest rate will fluctuate with the prime rate. It is important to remember that not everyone qualifies for prime -- this rate is only for customers least likely to default.

Source: Investing Answers

PRIME Defined for English Language Learners

prime

play

noun

Definition of prime for English Language Learners

: the period in life when a person is best in health, strength, etc. : the most active or successful time of a person's life

prime

adjective

Definition of prime for English Language Learners

: most important
: of the highest quality or value
—used to say that someone or something is a very good example of a particular kind of person or thing

prime

verb

Definition of prime for English Language Learners

: to make (someone) ready to do something
: to make (something) ready for use
: to cover (a surface) with special paint in order to prepare it for the final layer of paint

PRIME Defined for Kids

prime

play

noun \ ˈprīm \

Definition of prime for Students

:the period in life when a person is best in health, looks, or strength

prime

adjective

Definition of prime for Students

:first in importance, rank, or quality

Spring is a prime season to work outdoors.

prime

verb

Definition of prime for Students

primed; priming

1 :to put a first color or coating on

Prime the wall before painting.

2 :to put into working order by filling

prime a pump

3 :to make (someone or something) ready

The coach is priming him to be quarterback.

Law Dictionary

prime

noun

legal Definition of prime

1 :prime rate

2 :general contractor

prime

transitive verb

legal Definition of prime

primed; priming

:to have priority over

a perfected security interest primes an unperfected one

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prime

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primely

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prime

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prime

Definition of prime for English Language Learners

prime

Definition of prime for English Language Learners

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prime

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prime

legal Definition of prime

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