What does "fundamentally" mean?

In a fundamental or basic sense; reaching the very core of the matter.

What is a synonym for "fundamentally"?

Common synonyms include: basically, essentially, a outrance, absolutely, all out, at bottom.

Fundamentally

adv

adv ·5 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb

1
In a fundamental or basic sense; reaching the very core of the matter.
"What the science shows, he says, is that the brain of an addict is fundamentally different from that of a nonaddict."

Adverb

1
in essence; at bottom or by one's (or its) very nature wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

basically essentially a outrance absolutely all out at bottom

Example

More examples

"After I had thought about this elementary question fundamentally, I came to the conclusion that the difference, which is often described as "considerable" or "substantial" by distinguished people, between the indispensable words "important" and "essential" isn't significant, but rather is irrelevant."

Etymology

From fundamental + -ly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.