The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fundamental \Fun`da*men"tal\, a. [Cf. F. fondamental.] Pertaining to the foundation or basis; serving for the foundation. Hence: Essential, as an element, principle, or law; important; original; elementary; as, a fundamental truth; a fundamental axiom.
The fundamental reasons of this war.
--Shak.
Some fundamental antithesis in nature.
--Whewell.
Fundamental bass (Mus.), the root note of a chord; a bass formed of the roots or fundamental tones of the chords.
Fundamental chord (Mus.), a chord, the lowest tone of which is its root.
Fundamental colors, red, green, and violet-blue. See Primary colors, under Color.
Usage examples of "fundamental chord".
But it was the crowd, the great congregation filling the hall and all of Waldzell, the thousands of souls who followed the Master down the hieratic and labyrinthine ways through the endless, multidimensional imagery of the Game, who furnished the fundamental chord for the ceremony, the low, throbbing base bellnote, which for the more simple-hearted members of the community is the best and almost the only experience the festival yields, but which also awakens awe in the subtle virtuosi and critics of the elite, in the acolytes and officials all the way up to the leader and Master.