different between prime vs seminal

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French prime, from Latin primus (“first”), from earlier pr?smos < *pr?semos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?m, IPA^(key): /p?a??m/
• Hyphenation: prime
• Rhymes: -a?m

Adjective

prime (not comparable)

1. First in importance, degree, or rank.

   Synonyms: greatest, main, most important, primary, principal, top

2. First in time, order, or sequence.

   Synonyms: earliest, first, original
3. First in excellence, quality, or value.

   Synonyms: excellent, top quality
4. (mathematics, lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).

5. (mathematics, technical) Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
6. (mathematics) Having its complement closed under multiplication: said only of ideals.
7. Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
8. Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
9. (obsolete) Lecherous, lewd, lustful.

Synonyms

• (having no nontrivial factors): indivisible

Hyponyms

• biprime
• pseudoprime
• semiprime
• (having exactly two integral factors): coprime

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

prime (plural primes)

1. (historical) The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 2, Canto 9, p. 314,^[1]

     His larum bell might lowd and wyde be hard,

     When cause requyrd, but neuer out of time;

     Early and late it rong, at euening and at prime.

2. (Christianity) The religious service appointed to this hour.
3. (obsolete) The early morning generally.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 6, p. 81,^[2]

     They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]

4. (now rare) The earliest stage of something.
   • 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie, London, 1604, Book 1, p. 69,^[3]

     To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world.

   • 1645, Edmund Waller, “To a very young Lady” (earlier title: “To my young Lady Lucy Sidney”) in Poems, &c. Written upon Several Occasions, and to Several Persons, London: H. Herringman, 1686, p. 101,^[4]

     Hope waits upon the flowry prime,

5. The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
   • c. 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12,^[5]

     When I do count the clock that tells the time,

     And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;

     When I behold the violet past prime,

     And sable curls all silver’d o'er with white;

   • 1813, John Chetwode Eustace, A Tour through Italy, London: J. Mawman, Volume 1, Chapter 10, pp. 225-226,^[6]

     None but foreigners, excluded by their religion from the cemeteries of the country, are deposited here […] . The far greater part had been cut off in their prime, by unexpected disease or fatal accident.

   • 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone

     Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
6. The chief or best individual or part.
   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, “To a Lady, who desired the author to write some verses upon her in the heroic style” in The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, London: W. Bowyer et al., Volume 7, p. 396,^[7]

     Give no more to ev’ry guest

     Than he’s able to digest:

     Give him always of the prime;

     And but a little at a time.

7. (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
8. (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
9. (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.

10. (card games) A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
11. (backgammon) Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.

12. The symbol ? used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
13. (chemistry, obsolete) Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1.
14. An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
15. (obsolete) The priming in a flintlock.
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, pp. 95–96,^[8]

      […] he pull’d the Trigger, but Providence being pleas’d to preserve me for some other Purpose, the Cock snapp’d, and miss’d Fire. Whether the Prime was wet in the Pan, or by what other Miracle it was I escap’d his Fury, I cannot say […]

16. (film) Contraction of prime lens, a film lens
    • Tomlinson, Shawn M. (2015) Going Pro for $200 & How to Choose a Prime Lens, ?ISBN: “By the time I shifted to my first autofocus film SLR with the Pentax PZ-10, primes were considered things of the past”

Synonyms

• (early morning generally): See Thesaurus:early morning or Thesaurus:morning
• (most active, thriving, or successful stage or period): bloom, blossom, efflorescence, flower, flush, heyday, peak
• (chief or best individual or part): choice, prize, quality, select
• (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure): prime number (when an integer)

Antonyms

• (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure): composite

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• primality

Translations

Etymology 2

Related to primage and primus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?m, IPA^(key): /p?a??m/
• Rhymes: -a?m
• Hyphenation: prime

Verb

prime (third-person singular simple present primes, present participle priming, simple past and past participle primed)

1. (transitive) To prepare a mechanism for its main work.

   You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.

2. (transitive) To apply a coat of primer paint to.

   I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be renewed.
4. (intransitive) To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
5. (intransitive, of a steam boiler) To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.
6. To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
7. To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.

   to prime a witness

   The boys are primed for mischief.
8. (Britain, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.

   to prime trees

9. (mathematics) To mark with a prime mark.

Synonyms

• (to apply a coat of primer paint to): ground, undercoat

Translations

Etymology 3

From French prime (“reward, prize, bonus”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?i?m/
• Rhymes: -i?m

Noun

prime (plural primes)

1. (cycling) An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
   • 1997 Arnie Baker, Smart Cycling: Successful Training and Racing for Riders of All Levels

     Most primes are won with gaps on the field; most sprints are in bunches.

Derived terms

• primer

Related terms

Anagrams

• Priem, emirp, imper.

Albanian

Etymology

From proj (“to guard, defend”).

Noun

prime f pl (definite plural primet)

1. remedies

Related terms

• proj

References

French

Etymology

From the feminine of Old French prim, prin, from Latin pr?mus, from earlier pr?smos < *pr?semos < Proto-Italic *priisemos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?im/
• Rhymes: -im

Adjective

prime (plural primes)

1. first thing

Derived terms

• de prime abord

Noun

prime f (plural primes)

1. reward; prize; bonus
2. premium (insurance policy)

Derived terms

• chasseur de primes
• en prime
• prime de départ
• prime de bienvenue

Further reading

• “prime” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• imper

Interlingua

Adjective

prime

1. first

Italian

Adjective

prime

1. feminine plural of primo

Anagrams

• premi

Latin

Numeral

pr?me

1. vocative masculine singular of pr?mus

References

• prime in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• prime in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?pri.me]

Adjective

prime

1. nominative feminine plural of prim
2. accusative feminine plural of prim
3. nominative neuter plural of prim
4. accusative neuter plural of prim

Spanish

Verb

prime

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of primar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of primar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of primar.

Tarantino

Adjective

prime

1. first

English

Etymology

From Middle English seminal, semynal, from Old French seminal, seminale, from Latin s?min?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?m?n?l/
• Rhymes: -?m?n?l

Adjective

seminal (comparative more seminal, superlative most seminal)

1. Of or relating to seed or semen.
2. Creative or having the power to originate.
3. Highly influential, especially in some original way, and providing a basis for future development or research.

   Synonyms: influential, pioneering

   • 1827, Julius Hare and Augustus William Hare, Guesses at Truth

     The idea of God is, beyond all question or comparison, the one great seminal principle.

Synonyms

• (relating to seed): germinal
• (creative): innovative, primary
• (highly influential): influential, innovative, formative

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

seminal (plural seminals)

1. (obsolete) A seed.

Anagrams

• Elamins, Malines, Melians, isleman, menials, salmine

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin s?min?lis.

Adjective

seminal (masculine and feminine plural seminals)

1. seminal

Derived terms

• vesícula seminal

Further reading

• “seminal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “seminal” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “seminal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “seminal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin s?min?lis.

Adjective

seminal m or f (plural seminais, comparable)

1. (botany) seminal (relating to seeds)
2. (anatomy) seminal (relating to semen)
3. seminal; creative; inventive

   Synonyms: criativo, inventivo, fértil

4. seminal (highly influential)

Related terms

• sêmen
• semente

Further reading

• “seminal” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

From French séminal, from Latin seminalis.

Adjective

seminal m or n (feminine singular seminal?, masculine plural seminali, feminine and neuter plural seminale)

1. seminal

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin s?min?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /semi?nal/, [se.mi?nal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

seminal (plural seminales)

1. (botany) seminal (relating to seeds)
2. (anatomy) seminal (relating to semen)
3. seminal; creative; inventive
4. seminal (highly influential)

Derived terms

Related terms

• semen
• semilla

Further reading

• “seminal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.