base in WordNet English dictionary

1. any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water
   "bases include oxides and hydroxides of metals and ammonia"
   base  alkali 
   
2. a place that the runner must touch before scoring
   "he scrambled to get back to the bag"
   base  bag 
   
3. a support or foundation
   "the base of the lamp"
   base  pedestal  stand 
   
4. lowest support of a structure
   "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower"
   foundation  base  fundament  foot  groundwork  substructure  understructure 
   
5. (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector
   base 
   
6. installation from which a military force initiates operations
   "the attack wiped out our forward bases"
   base  base of operations 
   
7. a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit
   "a tub should sit on its own base"
   base 
   
8. the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area
   "the industrial base of Japan"
   infrastructure  base 
   
9. the principal ingredient of a mixture
   "glycerinated gelatin is used as a base for many ointments"; "he told the painter that he wanted a yellow base with just a hint of green"; "everything she cooked seemed to have rice as the base"
   base 
   
10. the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
    "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture"
    basis  base  foundation  fundament  groundwork  cornerstone 
    
11. (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
    "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
    root  root word  base  stem  theme  radical 
    
12. a lower limit
    "the government established a wage floor"
    floor  base 
    
13. (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment
    "the base of the skull"
    base 
    
14. the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end
    base  home 
    
15. the bottom or lowest part
    "the base of the mountain"
    base 
    
16. (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place
    "10 is the radix of the decimal system"
    base  radix 
    
17. the most important or necessary part of something
    "the basis of this drink is orange juice"
    basis  base 
    
18. the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed
    "the base of the triangle"
    base 
    
19. a phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA)
    nucleotide  base 
    

1. serving as or forming a base
   "the painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats"
   basal  base 
   
2. debased; not genuine
   "an attempt to eliminate the base coinage"
   base 
   
3. having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality
   "that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble"- Edmund Burke; "taking a mean advantage"; "chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort"- Shakespeare; "something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics"
   base  mean  meanspirited 
   
4. illegitimate
   base  baseborn 
   
5. (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal
   "base coins of aluminum"; "a base metal"
   base 
   
6. of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense)
   "baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or lowly) birth"
   base  baseborn  humble  lowly 
   
7. not adhering to ethical or moral principles
   "base and unpatriotic motives"; "a base, degrading way of life"; "cheating is dishonorable"; "they considered colonialism immoral"; "unethical practices in handling public funds"
   base  immoral 
   

1. use as a basis for; found on
   "base a claim on some observation"
   establish  base  ground  found 
   
2. use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes
   free-base  base 
   
3. situate as a center of operations
   "we will base this project in the new lab"
   base