foundational

Language: en

🇺🇸 /faʊˈndeɪʃənəl/

📖 Definitions

  1. adjective
    Serving as a basis or groundwork for something; fundamental and essential to the structure or existence of something else.; Relating to or concerned with the foundation of a building or structure.; Of or relating to the philosophical study of foundations, especially in mathematics or logic.; Serving as the initial or starting point from which further development proceeds; introductory in nature.

🔗 Details

Word forms

Comparative: more foundational Superlative: most foundational

Collocations

foundational principlefoundational knowledgefoundational workfoundational conceptfoundational textfoundational role

Derivatives

foundationfoundfounderfoundationallyfoundationless

Synonyms

fundamentalbasicelementaryunderlyingcoreessential

Antonyms

superficialperipheraladvanced

Commonly confused

fundamental
EN: 'Fundamental' is more common and broader in usage; 'foundational' specifically emphasizes serving as a base or groundwork for something built upon it.
foundation
EN: 'Foundation' is the noun form referring to the base itself; 'foundational' is the adjective describing something that serves as or relates to a foundation.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember the '-ational' ending: 'found-ation-al'. Do not drop the 'a' before '-tional' (not *foundtionl).

💬 Examples

  1. The foundational principles of democracy include freedom of speech and the right to vote.

  2. Engineers conducted a foundational survey before beginning construction on the new bridge.

  3. The foundational debate in mathematics between formalists and intuitionists shaped the discipline throughout the twentieth century.

  4. This foundational course is required before students can enroll in advanced seminars.