Definition of "elementary" []

• Of, relating to, or constituting the basic, essential, or fundamental part: an elementary need for love and nurturing. (adjective)
• Of, relating to, or involving the fundamental or simplest aspects of a subject: an elementary problem in statistics. (adjective)
• Of or relating to an elementary school or elementary education: the elementary grades; elementary teachers. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The phrase is not stronger than that with which the “Grammar of Science” challenged the fight: —“Anything more hopelessly illogical than the statements with regard to Force and Matter current in elementary textbooks of science, it is difficult to imagine, ” opened Mr. Pearson, and the responsible author of the “elementary textbook, ” as he went on to explain, was Lord Kelvin himself."
• "Strictly speaking, the term elementary as applied to most of the particles in the nucleus is inaccurate, for scientists now believe that all the particles except electrons are made of still more elementary particles called quarks."
• "The hackers, who call themselves LulzSec, said they pulled off what they described as an elementary attack to highlight Sony's "disgraceful" security."