1. Serving as an essential component
   "an example that was fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure";
   - cardinal, central, key, primal
    
2. Being or involving basic facts or principles
   "the fundamental laws of the universe"; "a fundamental incompatibility between them";
   - rudimentary, underlying
    
3. Far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the nature of something
   "the fundamental revolution in human values that has occurred"; "the book underwent fundamental changes"; "committed the fundamental error of confusing spending with extravagance";
   - profound

1. Any factor that could be considered important to the understanding of a particular business
   "fundamentals include a company's growth, revenues, earnings, management, and capital structure"
    
2. The lowest tone of a harmonic series
   "The fundamental frequency of the violin string determined its pitch";
   - fundamental frequency, first harmonic

Derived forms: fundamentals

See also: basic, foundational, important, of import, significant

Type of: factor, harmonic

Encyclopedia: Fundamental