EGAVE

foundation

Academic Word List, sublist 7.

About 38.32 uses per million words.

Meaning

  1. noun The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.
    The foundation of his institute has been wrought with difficulty.
  2. noun That upon which anything is founded; that on which anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; underbuilding.
  3. noun The result of the work to begin something; that which stabilizes and allows an enterprise or system to develop.
  4. noun In solitaire or patience games, one of the piles of cards that the player attempts to build, usually holding all cards of a suit in ascending order.
  5. noun The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.
    The foundations of this construction have been laid out.
  6. noun A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
  7. noun That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
    The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is the parent organization of the Wiktionary collaborative project.
  8. noun Cosmetic cream roughly skin-colored, designed to make the face appear uniform in color and texture.

Similar words

basis groundwork base fundament origination creation founding initiation institution instauration

Often followed by

of for and in is to on was stone

Word family

foundationless foundations

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