fundamentally

adverb

fun·​da·​men·​tal·​ly ˌfən-də-ˈmen-tᵊl-ē 

: with regard to what is basic, essential, or fundamental : at a fundamental level

a fundamentally honest person

a fundamentally new/different approach

Most theories of the internal structure of Venus begin with the assumption that the planet is fundamentally similar to the earth …

—Andrew and Louise Young

: in a basic or fundamental manner

This "disposable" work force is the most important trend in business today, and it is fundamentally changing the relationship between Americans and their jobs.

—Janice Castro

Examples of fundamentally in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This is fundamentally an engineering approach rather than a purely scientific one, since a great deal of foundational research already existed. —IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2026

Meanwhile, retention is fundamentally driven by culture and transparency. —Mike Kelleher, Baltimore Sun, 30 Apr. 2026

Israel originally cited security concerns, but media argue conditions have fundamentally changed with a ceasefire now in place for six months and hostages released. —Deepti Hajela, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026

Both are fundamentally problems of understanding how biological systems change over time, and both require deep, data-rich, computationally intensive modeling. —Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fundamentally

• accidentally
• detrimentally
• governmentally
• incidentally
• incrementally
• instrumentally
• sentimentally
• temperamentally
• coincidentally
• environmentally
• experimentally
• mentally