The DICT Development Group

  Groundwork \Ground"work`\ (ground"w[^u]rk`), n.
     That which forms the foundation or support of anything; the
     basis; the essential or fundamental part; first principle;
     as, development of a convenient DNA sequencing technique
     layed the groundwork for many of the subsequent advances in
     molecular genetics. --Dryden.
     [1913 Webster +PJC]

  groundwork
      n 1: 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, foundation, fundament, groundwork,
           cornerstone]
      2: lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of
         solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" [syn:
         foundation, base, fundament, foot, groundwork,
         substructure, understructure]
      3: preliminary preparation as a basis or foundation; "we are
         prepared today because of groundwork that was done ten years
         ago"

  78 Moby Thesaurus words for "groundwork":
     arrangement, base, basement, basic training, basis, bearing wall,
     bed, bedding, bedrock, bottom, briefing, clearing the decks,
     cornerstone, equipment, familiarization, fixing, floor, flooring,
     fond, footing, foundation, fundament, fundamental, ground, grounds,
     hardpan, infrastructure, makeready, making ready, manufacture,
     mobilization, pavement, planning, prearrangement, preliminaries,
     preliminary, preliminary act, preliminary step, prep, preparation,
     preparatory study, preparing, prepping, prerequisite, pretreatment,
     principle, processing, propaedeutic, provision, radical, readying,
     riprap, rock bottom, root, rudiment, seat, sill, solid ground,
     solid rock, spadework, stereobate, stylobate, substratum,
     substruction, substructure, terra firma, training, treatment,
     trial, tryout, underbuilding, undercarriage, undergirding,
     underpinning, underpinnings, understruction, understructure,
     warm-up