While hospitals continue investing in advanced diagnostic tools and antimicrobial materials, infection-prevention experts say the fundamentals still matter most.
When asked what the fundamental, or essential, principles of life are, a teenager might reply, "Breathe. Be a good friend. Eat chocolate. Get gas money." Fundamental has its roots in the Latin word fundamentum, which means "foundation."
Bedrock is literally a hard, solid layer of rock underlying the upper strata of soil or other rock. Thus, by extension, it is any foundation or basis. Used literally as early as 1850 in Nelson Kingsley’s Diary, the phrase appeared in its figurative sense by 1869 in Our New West by Samuel Bowles.
fundamental (plural fundamentals) (generic, singular) A basic truth, elementary concept, principle, rule, or law. An individual fundamental will often serve as a building block used to form a complex idea.
a principle, law, etc, that serves as the basis of an idea or system: teaching small children the fundamentals of road safety the principal or lowest note of a harmonic series
Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the fundamentals of education.