prime

1 of 3

noun

ˈprīm 

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

prime

2 of 3

adjective

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

prime

3 of 3

verb

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

Phrases

prime the pump

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

Synonyms

Noun

• bloom
• blossom
• florescence
• floruit
• flower
• flush
• heyday
• high noon
• salad days
• springtime

Adjective

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

Examples of prime in a Sentence

Noun

young college graduates in the prime of life

The interest rate is two percent plus prime.

Adjective

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.

Verb

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 on the Web

Noun

There in her glittering prime the lights refract sequin stars off her silhouette every night. —Bryan West, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2024

As with most of the sleeping beauties, handing the dress—even delicately—hastens its decay; Bolton made the decision that the risk was worth the opportunity to gather detailed information about what the Worth dress, in its prime, had been. —Nathan Heller, Vogue, 17 Apr. 2024

Alain Delon, in his prime, was the most beautiful man in the history of the movies. —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2024

McCarron was fit in his prime and has since become stronger and more muscled on the over-50 tour. —Paul Sullivan, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024

These women are either in their prime or are in that sort of launching stage. —Elizabeth Leonard, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2024

Diddy’s record label brought in about $130 million annually in its prime, according to a Business Insider report. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2024

What my research indicates is that 1 in 4 adults in their prime who are not college educated are not working full time. —Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Apr. 2024

The animation still pops up later for more personal recollections, but once the story gets into Clemente’s prime, there’s game film aplenty. —Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024

Adjective

So who are the resellers, mercenaries, and hustlers who provide Appointment Trader with prime tables? —Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker, 22 Apr. 2024

The park is geared toward younger kids Kids of all ages can enjoy LEGOLAND Florida, but the prime ages are 2 to 12. —Eve Chen, USA TODAY, 22 Apr. 2024

The north has great growth potential and a lot of prime real estate that is ripe for development which needs to be managed. —Harrison Mantas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 Apr. 2024

The Black Sea harbor and its docklands — Ukraine’s commercial lifeline and a prime military asset — have been the object of intensifying Russian drone and missile attacks in recent weeks, as Ukraine’s dwindling air defenses leave critical infrastructure vulnerable across the country. —Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr. 2024

For several years, the department has raised red flags about the decaying Vista Detention Facility next to the Vista Courthouse, a jail the department says is decades passed its prime life. —Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2024

The Panthers were the prime example of that last year. —Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 20 Apr. 2024

Gabriel had already put himself in prime shape, practicing martial arts and lifting weights. —Richard Goldstein, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024

Authorities on Monday reported traffic crashes and significant road delays across the country as thousands of people flocked to prime locations to gaze up at the rare solar eclipse. —Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2024

Verb

Painted over it, primed over it, but that didn’t help. —Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2024

Taylor Mims: Since roughly the Grammy awards in early February, big stars have been priming fans for a big year. —Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2024

In 2024, that strategy has been primed and polished. —David Gilbert, WIRED, 8 Apr. 2024

Esser, who has pioneered research in this area, says muscle clocks are key in guiding when the cell takes a break to rest and repair, including storing up energy, and when to get primed for activity. —Will Stone, NPR, 29 Mar. 2024

Conclusions The future of inference is clearly steering towards the edge, where privacy and essentially free compute is primed and ready. —Karl Freund, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024

Already primed for corporate disillusion thanks to the pandemic, Gen Z is not only watching people their age be let go, but also peers senior to them who have spent decades with a company. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2024

Accelerating climate change, coupled with a century of suppression of wildfire, has created thick stands of trees primed to burn across much of the American West. —ProPublica, 16 Mar. 2024

With organic content, businesses are primed to attract more traffic to their websites. —Rachel Kule, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, going back to Old English prīm, borrowed from Medieval Latin prīma (short for Latin prīma hōra "first hour"), from feminine of Latin prīmus "first, earliest"; in senses other than sense 1 borrowed in part from Latin prīmum "first part, beginning stages" (in plural prīma) or prīmus "notable person, leading citizen," noun derivatives of prīmus, adjective — more at prime entry 2

Adjective

Middle English, "first, original, in an initial stage," borrowed from Anglo-French, originally feminine of prim "first, earliest, original, main, most important," going back to Latin prīmus "first" (ordinal corresponding to ūnus "one, foremost, earliest, of first importance, of the highest quality,") going back to earlier *prīsmos, syncopated from *prīsomos, from dialectal Indo-European *pri "in front, before" + *-is-m̥mo-, superlative suffix (from *-is-, comparative suffix + *-m̥mo-, superlative suffix) — more at prior entry 2

Note: The combined comparative-superlative suffix *-is-m̥mo- as a productive superlative suffix is peculiar to Italic and Celtic. The assumption that *-is-m̥mo- yields *-isomo- in Latin (rather than *-em- or *-am-) is based on Michael Weiss, Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin (Beech Stave Press, 2011), p. 105. (Weiss suggests as a prime example homō "man, human," from *ǵhm̥mō.)

Verb

of uncertain origin

Note: Possibly a derivative of prime entry 2, if priming something was taken to mean performing an essential preliminary stage. However, if early uses meaning simply "to load, fill" (earliest in Scots, in Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, 1513) are the original senses, the painting and weapons senses may be by secondary association with prime entry 2 and its etymons. Supporting the hypothesis of an original meaning "load" would be the apparent derivative primage "money paid by a shipper to a captain for care of the cargo," attested as English in 1476, and as Latin primagium as early as 1297. Compare in the same sense prime-gilt (earliest in Scots, 1576), alongside Middle High German primegelt, primgelt (1468) and Middle Dutch priemgelt (1460), with gelt "money." However, none of these words lead any closer to the origin of the English verb.

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1513, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing prime

• double prime
• in one's prime
• past one's prime
• prime cost
• prime meridian
• prime minister
• prime mover
• prime number
• prime rate
• prime target
• prime the pump
• prime time
• relatively prime
• the prime meridian

Kids Definition

prime

1 of 3 noun

ˈprīm 

1

: the first part : the earliest stage

2

: the most vigorous, prosperous, or satisfying stage or period

in the prime of one's life

3

: the best individual or part

4

: prime number

5

: the symbol ′

prime

2 of 3 adjective

1

: first in time : original

2

a

: of, relating to, or being a prime number

b

: expressed as a product of prime factors

the prime factorization of 12 is 2 · 2 · 3

3

a

: first in rank or importance

our prime responsibility

b

: being highest in quality or value

prime farmland

c

: of the highest grade of meat

prime beef

prime

3 of 3 verb

primed; priming

1

: to get ready for firing by putting in priming

prime a rifle

2

: to put a first color or coating on (an unpainted surface)

3

: to put into working order by filling

prime a pump

4

: to make (someone) ready to do something

teams primed to win

Etymology

Noun

Old English prīm "a religious service for the first hour of the day," from Latin prima (hora) "first (hour)," from primus "first" — related to premier, prima donna, primeval, prince

Legal Definition

prime

1 of 2 noun

1

: prime rate

2

: general contractor

prime

2 of 2 transitive verb

primed; priming

: to have priority over

a perfected security interest primes an unperfected one