Installation from which a military force initiates operations:
— The attack wiped out our forward bases.

synonym: base of operations.

Dutch: basis

Lowest support of a structure:
— It was built on a base of solid rock.

synonyms: foot, foundation, fundament, groundwork, substructure, understructure.

Roget 211: base, basement; plinth, dado, wainscot; baseboard, mopboard^†; bedrock, hardpan [U.S.]; foundation etc. (support) 215; substructure, substratum, ground, earth, pavement, floor, paving, flag, carped, ground floor, deck; footing, ground work, basis; hold, bilge.    bottom, nadir, foot, sole, toe, hoof, keel, root; centerboard.    ... show more

Dutch: basis, bedding, fundament, fundering, grondslag, grondvest, grondvesting
Polish: fundament

A place that the runner must touch before scoring.

synonym: bag.

Dutch: honk

The bottom or lowest part.

Dutch: basis, onderstuk

anatomy The part of an organ nearest its point of attachment.

A lower limit.

synonym: floor.

The fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained.

synonyms: basis, cornerstone, foundation, fundament, groundwork.

Roget 215: support, ground, foundation, base, basis; terra firma; bearing, fulcrum, bait [U.S.], caudex crib^†; point d'appui [Fr.], pou sto [Gr.], purchase footing, hold, locus standi [Lat.]; landing place, landing stage; stage, platform; block; rest, resting place; groundwork, substratum, riprap, sustentation, subvention; floor etc. (basement) 211.    supporter; aid etc. 707; prop, stand, anvil, fulciment^†; cue rest, jigger; monkey; stay, shore, skid, rib, truss, bandage; sleeper; stirrup, stilts, shoe, sole, heel, splint, lap, bar, rod, boom, sprit^†, outrigger; ratlings^†.    staff, stick, crutch, alpenstock, baton, staddle^†; bourdon^†, cowlstaff^†, lathi^†, mahlstick^†.    post, pillar, shaft, thill^†, column, pilaster; pediment, pedicle; pedestal; plinth, shank, leg, socle^†, zocle^†; buttress, jamb, mullion, abutment; baluster, banister, stanchion; balustrade; headstone; upright; door post, jamb, door jamb.    frame, framework; scaffold, skeleton, beam, rafter, girder, lintel, joist, travis^†, trave^†, corner stone, summer, transom; rung, round, step, sill; angle rafter, hip rafter; cantilever, modillion^†; crown post, king post; vertebra.    columella^†, backbone; keystone; axle, axletree; axis; arch, mainstay.    trunnion, pivot, rowlock^†; peg etc. (pendency) 214^†; tiebeam etc. (fastening) 45; thole pin^†.    board, ledge, shelf, hob, bracket, trevet^†, trivet, arbor, rack; mantel, mantle piece [Fr.], mantleshelf^†; slab, console; counter, dresser; flange, corbel; table, trestle; shoulder; perch; horse; easel, desk; clotheshorse, hatrack; retable; teapoy^†.    seat, throne, dais; divan, musnud^†; chair, bench, form, stool, sofa, settee, stall; arm chair, easy chair, elbow chair, rocking chair; couch, fauteuil [Fr.], woolsack^†, ottoman, settle, squab, bench; aparejo^†, faldstool^†, horn; long chair, long sleeve chair, morris chair; lamba chauki^†, lamba kursi^†; saddle, pannel^†, pillion; side saddle, pack saddle; pommel.    bed, berth, pallet, tester, crib, cot, hammock, shakedown, trucklebed^†, cradle, litter, stretcher, bedstead; four poster, French bed, bunk, kip, palang^†; bedding, bichhona, mattress, paillasse^†; pillow, bolster; mat, rug, cushion.    footstool, hassock; tabouret^†; tripod, monopod.    Atlas, Persides, Atlantes^†, Caryatides, Hercules.    ... show more

Dutch: fundament, grond, grondslag, hoeksteen, initia, ondergrond, pijler, substantie, voet

A support or foundation:
— The base of the lamp.

synonyms: pedestal, stand.

Dutch: basement, piëdestal, postament, sokkel, standaard, stander, voetstuk
Polish: podstawa

A phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA).

synonym: nucleotide.

Dutch: nucleotide
Polish: nukleotyd

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.

synonym: alkali.

Dutch: alkali, basis, vertrekpunt, base
Polish: zasada

The bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed.

Polish: podstawa

The most important or necessary part of something.

synonym: basis.

numeration system The positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place.

synonym: radix.

Dutch: grondtal
Polish: podstawa potęgi, podstawa

The place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end.

synonym: home.

Dutch: basis, thuisbasis
Polish: baza

A terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries.

synonyms: al-Qa'ida, al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, al Qaeda, al Qaida, Qaeda.

Dutch: Al Qaida
Polish: Al-Kaida

linguistics The form of a word after all affixes are removed.

synonyms: radical, root, root word, stem, theme.

Roget 84: number, symbol, numeral, figure, cipher, digit, integer; counter; round number; formula; function; series.    sum, difference, complement, subtrahend; product; multiplicand, multiplier, multiplicator^†; coefficient, multiple; dividend, divisor, factor, quotient, submultiple [Math.]; fraction, rational number; surd, irrational number; transcendental number; mixed number, complex number, complex conjugate; numerator, denominator; decimal, circulating decimal, repetend; common measure, aliquot part; prime number, prime, relative prime, prime factor, prime pair; reciprocal; totient^†.    binary number, octal number, hexadecimal number [Comp.].    permutation, combination, variation; election.    ratio, proportion, comparison etc. 464; progression; arithmetical progression, geometrical progression, harmonical progression^†; percentage, permilage.    figurate numbers^†, pyramidal numbers, polygonal numbers.    power, root, exponent, index, logarithm, antilogarithm; modulus, base.    differential, integral, fluxion^†, fluent.    ... show more

Dutch: stam
Polish: morfem leksykalny, pierwiastek, rdzeń, pień

The stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area:
— The industrial base of Japan.

synonym: infrastructure.

Dutch: infrastructuur

The principal ingredient of a mixture.

A flat bottom on which something is intended to sit.

Dutch: bodem, grondvlak

electronics The part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector.

Dutch: honk, basis

Use as a basis for; found on:
— Base a claim on some observation.

synonyms: establish, found, ground.

Roget 215: be supported &c.; lie on, sit on, recline on, lean on, loll on, rest on, stand on, step on, repose on, abut on, bear on, be based on &c.; have at one's back; bestride, bestraddle^†.    support, bear, carry, hold, sustain, shoulder; hold up, back up, bolster up, shore up; uphold, upbear^†; prop; under prop, under pin, under set; riprap; bandage etc. 43.    give support, furnish support, afford support, supply support, lend support, give foundations, furnish foundations, afford foundations, supply foundations, lend foundations; bottom, found, base, ground, imbed, embed.    maintain, keep on foot; aid etc. 707.    ... show more

Situate as a center of operations.

Use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes.

synonym: free-base.

Serving as or forming a base:
— The painter applied a base coat followed by two finishing coats.

synonym: basal.

Roget 862: coward, cowardly; fearful, shy; timid, timorous; skittish; poor-spirited, spiritless, soft, effeminate.    weak-minded; infirm of purpose etc. 605; weak-hearted, fainthearted, chickenhearted, henhearted^†, lilyhearted, pigeon-hearted; white-livered^†, lily-livered, milk-livered^†; milksop, smock-faced; unable to say 'boo' to a goose.    dastard, dastardly; base, craven, sneaking, dunghill, recreant; unwarlike, unsoldier-like.    in face a lion but in heart a deer.   " unmanned; frightened etc. 860.    ... show more

Of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense):
— Baseborn wretches with dirty faces.

synonyms: baseborn, humble, lowly.

Roget 876: ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly; below par; no great shakes etc. (unimportant) 643; homely, homespun; vulgar, low-minded; snobbish.    plebeian, proletarian; of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction; lowborn, baseborn, earthborn^†; mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks; unknown to fame, obscure, untitled.    rustic, uncivilized; loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish; rude, unlicked^†.    barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque^†; cockney, born within sound of Bow bells.    underling, menial, subaltern.    ... show more

used of metals Consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal.

Not adhering to ethical or moral principles:
— Base and unpatriotic motives.
— A base, degrading way of life.

synonym: immoral.

Roget 945: vicious; sinful; sinning etc. v.; wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal; naughty, incorrect; unduteous^†, undutiful.    unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores [Lat.], indecorous, unseemly, improper; dissolute, profligate, scampish; unworthy; worthless; desertless^†; disgraceful, recreant; reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable; discreditable, disreputable; Sadistic.    base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous^†, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous; flagrant, flagitious; atrocious, incarnate, accursed.    Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike^†, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish.    miscreated^†, misbegotten; demoralized, corrupt, depraved.    evil-minded, evil-disposed; ill-conditioned; malevolent etc. 907; heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless; abandoned, lost to virtue; unconscionable; sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity.    incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for; culpable, reprehensible etc. (guilty) 947.    unjustifiable; indefensible, inexcusable; inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible^†.    weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect; indiscrete; demoralizing, degrading.    ... show more

Having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality:
— That liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble.

synonyms: mean, meanspirited.

Roget 940: dishonest, dishonorable; unconscientious, unscrupulous; fraudulent etc. 545; knavish; disgraceful etc. (disreputable) 974; wicked etc. 945.    false-hearted, disingenuous; unfair, one-sided; double, double-hearted, double-tongued, double-faced; timeserving^†, crooked, tortuous, insidious, Machiavelian, dark, slippery; fishy; perfidious, treacherous, perjured.    infamous, arrant, foul, base, vile, ignominious, blackguard.    contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging; beneath one.    low-minded, low-thoughted^†; base-minded.    undignified, indign^†; unbecoming, unbeseeming^†, unbefitting; derogatory, degrading; infra dignitatem [Lat.], beneath one's dignity; ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike; unknightly^†, unchivalric^†, unmanly, unhandsome; recreant, inglorious.    corrupt, venal; debased, mongrel.    faithless, of bad faith, false, unfaithful, disloyal; untrustworthy; trustless, trothless^†; lost to shame, dead to honor; barratrous.    ... show more

Roget 886: servile, obsequious; supple, supple as a glove; soapy, oily, pliant, cringing, abased, dough-faced, fawning, slavish, groveling, sniveling, mealy-mouthed; beggarly, sycophantic, parasitical; abject, prostrate, down on ones marrowbones; base, mean, sneaking; crouching etc. v.. ... show more

Roget 649: hurtful, harmful, scathful^†, baneful, baleful; injurious, deleterious, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, mischievous, full of mischief, mischief-making, malefic, malignant, nocuous, noisome; prejudicial; disserviceable^†, disadvantageous; wide-wasting.    unlucky, sinister; obnoxious; untoward, disastrous.    oppressive, burdensome, onerous; malign etc. (malevolent) 907.    corrupting etc. (corrupt) etc. 659; virulent, venomous, envenomed, corrosive; poisonous etc. (morbific) 657^†; deadly etc. (killing) 361; destructive etc. (destroying) 162; inauspicious etc. 859.    bad, ill, arrant, as bad as bad can be, dreadful; horrid, horrible; dire; rank, peccant, foul, fulsome; rotten, rotten at the core.    vile, base, villainous; mean etc. (paltry) 643; injured &c.; deteriorated etc. 659; unsatisfactory, exceptionable indifferent; below par etc. (imperfect) 651; illcontrived, ill-conditioned; wretched, sad, grievous, deplorable, lamentable; pitiful, pitiable, woeful etc. (painful) 830.    evil, wrong; depraved etc. 945; shocking; reprehensible etc. (disapprove) 932.    hateful, hateful as a toad; abominable, detestable, execrable, cursed, accursed, confounded; damned, damnable; infernal; diabolic etc. (malevolent) 907.    unadvisable etc. (inexpedient) 647; unprofitable etc. (useless) 645; incompetent etc. (unskillful) 699; irremediable etc. (hopeless) 859.    ... show more

Illegitimate.

synonym: baseborn.

Debased; not genuine.