Foundation \Foun*da"tion\, n. [F. fondation, L. fundatio. See
Found to establish.]
1. The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to
erect.
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2. 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; groundwork;
basis.
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Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone . .
. a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. --Is.
xxviii. 16.
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The foundation of a free common wealth. --Motley.
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3. (Arch.) The lowest and supporting part or member of a
wall, including the base course (see Base course
(a), under Base, n.) and footing courses; in a frame
house, the whole substructure of masonry.
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4. A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable
institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
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He was entered on the foundation of Westminster.
--Macaulay.
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5. That which is founded, or established by endowment; an
endowed institution or charity; as, the Ford Foundation.
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Against the canon laws of our foundation. --Milton.
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Foundation course. See Base course, under Base, n.
Foundation muslin, an open-worked gummed fabric used for
stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc.
Foundation school, in England, an endowed school.
To be on a foundation, to be entitled to a support from the
proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a
college.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
foundation
n 1: the basis on which something is grounded; "there is little
foundation for his objections"
2: an institution supported by an endowment
3: the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or
developed or calculated or explained; "the whole argument
rested on a basis of conjecture" [syn: basis, base, fundament,
groundwork, cornerstone]
4: lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of
solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" [syn: base,
fundament, foot, groundwork, substructure, understructure]
5: education or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of
knowledge; "he lacks the foundation necessary for advanced
study"; "a good grounding in mathematics" [syn: grounding]
6: a woman's undergarment worn to give shape to the contours of
the body [syn: foundation garment]
7: the act of starting something for the first time;
introducing something new; "she looked forward to her
initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new
scientific society"; "he regards the fork as a modern
introduction" [syn: initiation, founding, institution,
origination, creation, innovation, introduction,
instauration]
WordNet (r) 2.0
238 Moby Thesaurus words for "foundation":
A, a priori principle, affirmation, alpha, anchorage, appanage,
apriorism, arrangement, assertion, assumed position, assumption,
axiom, basal, base, baseboard, basement, basic, basic training,
basis, bearing wall, bed, bedding, bedrock, beginning, blast-off,
bottom, briefing, call, categorical proposition, cause, cellar,
chassis, clearing the decks, clown white, cold cream, colonization,
commencement, compact, constitution, cosmetics, creation,
cutting edge, dado, data, dawn, dot, dower, dowry,
drugstore complexion, edge, effectuation, endowment, equipment,
establishment, eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, familiarization,
first principles, fixation, fixing, floor, flooring, flying start,
fond, foot, footing, formation, foundation cream, foundational,
founding, frame, fresh start, fundament, fundamental, good reason,
greasepaint, ground, grounds, groundwork, hand cream, hand lotion,
hardpan, hypothesis, hypothesis ad hoc, inauguration, inception,
infrastructure, initiation, installation, installment, institute,
instituting, institution, investiture, investment, jointure,
jump-off, keel, kick-off, leading edge, legal jointure, lemma,
lip rouge, lipstick, lodgment, major premise, makeready, makeup,
making ready, manufacture, marriage portion, mascara,
material basis, materialization, minor premise, mobilization,
mooring, mopboard, mudpack, nadir, nail polish, new departure,
oncoming, onset, opening, organization, organizing, origin,
origination, outbreak, outset, paint, pavement, peopling,
philosopheme, philosophical proposition, pillar, planning,
plantation, population, portion, position, postulate, postulation,
postulatum, powder, powder puff, prearrangement, preliminaries,
preliminary, preliminary act, preliminary step, premise, prep,
preparation, preparatory study, preparing, prepping, prerequisite,
presupposition, pretreatment, primary, principle, processing,
propaedeutic, proposition, propositional function, provision, puff,
purpose, radical, raison d'etre, rationale, readying, realization,
reason, rest, right, riprap, rock, rock bottom, rouge, rudiment,
running start, seat, send-off, setting in motion, setting-up,
settlement, settling, shoemold, sill, sole, solid ground,
solid rock, spadework, square one, start, start-off,
starting point, statement, stereobate, stylobate, substance,
substratum, substruction, substructure, sumption, supposal,
take-off, talcum, talcum powder, terra firma, theorem, thesis,
thirds, toe, tower, training, treatment, trial, truth table,
truth-function, truth-value, tryout, underbuilding, undercarriage,
undergirding, underlying, underpinning, understruction,
understructure, vanishing cream, vanity case, wainscot, war paint,
warm-up, warrant
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
foundation
The axiom of foundation states that the membership relation is
well founded, i.e. that any non-empty collection Y of sets has
a member y which is disjoint from Y. This rules out sets
which contain themselves (directly or indirectly).
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
FOUNDATION. This word, in the English law, is taken in two senses, fundatio
incipiens, and fundatio perficiens. As to its political capacity, an act of
incorporation is metaphorically called its foundation but as to its
dotation, the first gift of revenues is called the foundation. 10 Co. 23, a.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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