Basis

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: bāʹsÄ­s, IPA: /ˈbeɪsɪs/,

Origin

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις.

“basis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary 2

nd

1989

Full definition of basis

Noun

1. A starting point, base or foundation for an argument or hypothesis.
2. An underlying condition or circumstance.
• 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/06/england-moldova-world-cup-qualifier-matchreportHodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.
3. regular frequencyYou should brush your teeth on a daily basis at minimum.The flights to Fiji leave on a weekly basis.Cars must be checked on a yearly basis.
4. (linear algebra) In a vector space, a linearly independent set of vectors spanning the whole vector space.
5. (accounting) Amount paid for an investment, including commissions and other expenses.
6. (topology) A collection of subsets ("basis elements") of a set, such that this collection covers the set, and for any two basis elements which both contain an element of the set, there is a third basis element contained in the intersection of the first two, which also contains that element.
   The collection of all possible unions of basis elements of a basis is said to be the topology generated by that basis.

Usage notes

The construction "on a daily/weekly/etc. basis" is usually an unnecessarily-wordy substitute for simply "daily/weekly/etc."

Derived terms

• basis point (4)
• tax basis
• fare basis
• cost basis
• basic

Synonyms

• (starting point for discussion) base

Anagrams

• absis
• isbas