Staple vs. Basic — What's the Difference?

A principal raw material or commodity grown or produced in a region.

A widely used programming language that is designed to be easy to learn.

A major item of trade in steady demand.

An essential, fundamental element or entity

A basic dietary item, such as flour, rice, or corn.

Basic training.

A basic or principal element or feature.

Of, relating to, or forming a base; fundamental

The fiber of cotton, wool, or flax, graded as to length and fineness.

Of, being, or serving as a starting point or basis

A thin piece of wire shaped as three sides of a square so that it can be driven into thin or soft material, such as paper, and bent to function as a fastener.

Of or relating to a base.

A similarly shaped piece of metal with pointed ends, driven into a surface to secure a bolt, hook, hasp, or length of wiring.

Containing a base, especially in excess of acid.

Produced or stocked in large quantities to meet steady demand

Alkaline.

Principal; main

(Geology) Containing little silica, as certain igneous rocks.

To grade (fibers) according to length and fineness.

(Slang) Unthinkingly or blandly conformist

To secure or fasten by means of a staple or staples.

Necessary, essential for life or some process.

A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group.

Elementary, simple, fundamental, merely functional.

(by extension) Place of supply; source.

(chemistry) Of or pertaining to a base; having a pH greater than 7.

The principal commodity produced in a town or region.

(slang) Unremarkable or uninteresting; boring; uncool.

A basic or essential supply.

A necessary commodity, a staple requirement.

A recurring topic or character.

An elementary building block, e.g. a fundamental piece of knowledge.

Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.

(military) Basic training.

Unmanufactured material; raw material.

Relating to a base; performing the office of a base in a salt.

A wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.

Said of crystalline rocks which contain a relatively low percentage of silica, as basalt.

A wire fastener used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.

An artificial computer language with a relatively simplified instruction set.

A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.

A popular programming language that is relatively easy to learn; an acronym for beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code; no longer in general use

One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.

(usually plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant

(mining) A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.

Pertaining to or constituting a base or basis;

A small pit.

Reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality;

A district granted to an abbey.

Of primary importance;

(obsolete) A post; prop; support

Serving as a base or starting point;

(transitive) To sort according to its staple.

Of or denoting or of the nature of or containing a base

(transitive) To secure with a staple.

Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.

Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.

Fit to be sold; marketable.

Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

A settled mart; an emporium; a city or town to which merchants brought commodities for sale or exportation in bulk; a place for wholesale traffic.

Hence: Place of supply; source; fountain head.

The principal commodity of traffic in a market; a principal commodity or production of a country or district; as, wheat, maize, and cotton are great staples of the United States.

The principal constituent in anything; chief item.

Unmanufactured material; raw material.

The fiber of wool, cotton, flax, or the like; as, a coarse staple; a fine staple; a long or short staple.

A loop of metal such as iron, or a bar or wire, bent and formed with two points to be driven into wood, to hold a hook, pin, or the like.

A small loop of metal such as steel, bent into a U-shape with the points sharpened, used to fasten sheets of paper together by driving the staple{8} through the stacked sheets and into a formed receptacle which curls the ends in and backward, thus holding the papers firmly together; also, a similar, slightly larger such fastener which may be driven into wood to fasten objects to a wooden backing.

A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.

A district granted to an abbey.

Pertaining to, or being a market or staple for, commodities; as, a staple town.

Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled; as, a staple trade.

Fit to be sold; marketable.

Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

To sort according to its staple; as, to staple cotton.

To fasten together with a staple{9} or staples; as, to staple a check to a letter.

(usually plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant

Material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing

A short U-shaped wire nail for securing cables

Paper fastener consisting of a short length of U-shaped wire that can fasten papers together

Secure or fasten with a staple or staples;

Necessary foods or commodities;