negotiations on the status of the military bases

   The guiding principle of Portuguese foreign policy since the founding of the monarchy in the 12th century has been the maintenance of Portugal's status first as an independent kingdom and, later, as a sovereign nation-state. For the first 800 years of its existence, Portuguese foreign policy and diplomacy sought to maintain the independence of the Portuguese monarchy, especially in relationship to the larger and more powerful Spanish monarchy. During this period, the Anglo- Portuguese Alliance, which began with a treaty of commerce and friendship signed between the kings of Portugal and England in 1386 (the Treaty of Windsor) and continued with the Methuen Treaty in 1703, sought to use England ( Great Britain after 1707) as a counterweight to its landward neighbor, Spain.

   As three invasions of Portugal by Napoleon's armies during the first decade of the 19th century proved, however, Spain was not the only threat to Portugal's independence and security. Portugal's ally, Britain, provided a counterweight also to a threatening France on more than one occasion between 1790 and 1830. During the 19th century, Portugal's foreign policy became largely subordinate to that of her oldest ally, Britain, and standard Portuguese histories describe Portugal's situation as that of a "protectorate" of Britain. In two key aspects during this time of international weakness and internal turmoil, Portugal's foreign policy was under great pressure from her ally, world power Britain: responses to European conflicts and to the situation of Portugal's scattered, largely impoverished overseas empire. Portugal's efforts to retain massive, resource-rich Brazil in her empire failed by 1822, when Brazil declared its independence. Britain's policy of favoring greater trade and commerce opportunities in an autonomous Brazil was at odds with Portugal's desperate efforts to hold Brazil.

   Following the loss of Brazil and a renewed interest in empire in tropical Africa, Portugal sought to regain a more independent initiative in her foreign policy and, especially after 1875, overseas imperial questions dominated foreign policy concerns. From this juncture, through the first Republic (1910-26) and during the Estado Novo, a primary purpose of Portuguese foreign policy was to maintain Portuguese India, Macau, and its colonies in Africa: Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea- Bissau. Under the direction of the dictator, Antônio de Oliveira Salazar, further efforts were made to reclaim a measure of independence of foreign policy, despite the tradition of British dominance. Salazar recognized the importance of an Atlantic orientation of the country's foreign policy. As Herbert Pell, U.S. Ambassador to Portugal (1937-41), observed in a June 1939 report to the U.S. Department of State, Portugal's leaders understood that Portugal must side with "that nation which dominates the Atlantic."

   During the 1930s, greater efforts were made in Lisbon in economic, financial, and foreign policy initiatives to assert a greater measure of flexibility in her dependence on ally Britain. German economic interests made inroads in an economy whose infrastructure in transportation, communication, and commerce had long been dominated by British commerce and investors. Portugal's foreign policy during World War II was challenged as both Allied and Axis powers tested the viability of Portugal's official policy of neutrality, qualified by a customary bow to the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. Antônio de Oliveira Salazar, who served as minister of foreign affairs, as well as prime minister, during 1936-45, sought to sell his version of neutrality to both sides in the war and to do so in a way that would benefit Portugal's still weak economy and finance. Portugal's status as a neutral was keenly tested in several cases, including Portugal's agreeing to lease military bases to Britain and the United States in the Azores Islands and in the wolfram (tungsten ore) question. Portugal's foreign policy experienced severe pressures from the Allies in both cases, and Salazar made it clear to his British and American counterparts that Portugal sought to claim the right to make independent choices in policy, despite Portugal's military and economic weakness. In tense diplomatic negotiations with the Allies over Portugal's wolfram exports to Germany as of 1944, Salazar grew disheartened and briefly considered resigning over the wolfram question. Foreign policy pressure on this question diminished quickly on 6 June 1944, as Salazar decreed that wolfram mining, sales, and exports to both sides would cease for the remainder of the war. After the United States joined the Allies in the war and pursued an Atlantic strategy, Portugal discovered that her relationship with the dominant ally in the emerging United Nations was changing and that the U.S. would replace Britain as the key Atlantic ally during succeeding decades. Beginning in 1943-44, and continuing to 1949, when Portugal became, with the United States, a founding member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Luso-American relations assumed center stage in her foreign policy.

   During the Cold War, Portuguese foreign policy was aligned with that of the United States and its allies in Western Europe. After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, the focus of Portuguese foreign policy shifted away from defending and maintaining the African colonies toward integration with Europe. Since Portugal became a member of the European Economic Community in 1986, and this evolved into the European Union (EU), all Portuguese governments have sought to align Portugal's foreign policy with that of the EU in general and to be more independent of the United States. Since 1986, Portugal's bilateral commercial and diplomatic relations with Britain, France, and Spain have strengthened, especially those with Spain, which are more open and mutually beneficial than at any other time in history.

   Within the EU, Portugal has sought to play a role in the promotion of democracy and human rights, while maintaining its security ties to NATO. Currently, a Portuguese politician, José Manuel Durão Barroso, is president of the Commission of the EU, and Portugal has held the six-month rotating presidency of the EU three times, in 1992, 2000, and 2007.

(1939-1945)

   In the European phase of the war, neutral Portugal contributed more to the Allied victory than historians have acknowledged. Portugal experienced severe pressures to compromise her neutrality from both the Axis and Allied powers and, on several occasions, there were efforts to force Portugal to enter the war as a belligerent. Several factors lent Portugal importance as a neutral. This was especially the case during the period from the fall of France in June 1940 to the Allied invasion and reconquest of France from June to August 1944.

   In four respects, Portugal became briefly a modest strategic asset for the Allies and a war materiel supplier for both sides: the country's location in the southwesternmost corner of the largely German-occupied European continent; being a transport and communication terminus, observation post for spies, and crossroads between Europe, the Atlantic, the Americas, and Africa; Portugal's strategically located Atlantic islands, the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde archipelagos; and having important mines of wolfram or tungsten ore, crucial for the war industry for hardening steel.

   To maintain strict neutrality, the Estado Novo regime dominated by Antônio de Oliveira Salazar performed a delicate balancing act. Lisbon attempted to please and cater to the interests of both sets of belligerents, but only to the extent that the concessions granted would not threaten Portugal's security or its status as a neutral. On at least two occasions, Portugal's neutrality status was threatened. First, Germany briefly considered invading Portugal and Spain during 1940-41. A second occasion came in 1943 and 1944 as Great Britain, backed by the United States, pressured Portugal to grant war-related concessions that threatened Portugal's status of strict neutrality and would possibly bring Portugal into the war on the Allied side. Nazi Germany's plan ("Operation Felix") to invade the Iberian Peninsula from late 1940 into 1941 was never executed, but the Allies occupied and used several air and naval bases in Portugal's Azores Islands.

   The second major crisis for Portugal's neutrality came with increasing Allied pressures for concessions from the summer of 1943 to the summer of 1944. Led by Britain, Portugal's oldest ally, Portugal was pressured to grant access to air and naval bases in the Azores Islands. Such bases were necessary to assist the Allies in winning the Battle of the Atlantic, the naval war in which German U-boats continued to destroy Allied shipping. In October 1943, following tedious negotiations, British forces began to operate such bases and, in November 1944, American forces were allowed to enter the islands. Germany protested and made threats, but there was no German attack.

   Tensions rose again in the spring of 1944, when the Allies demanded that Lisbon cease exporting wolfram to Germany. Salazar grew agitated, considered resigning, and argued that Portugal had made a solemn promise to Germany that wolfram exports would be continued and that Portugal could not break its pledge. The Portuguese ambassador in London concluded that the shipping of wolfram to Germany was "the price of neutrality." Fearing that a still-dangerous Germany could still attack Portugal, Salazar ordered the banning of the mining, sale, and exports of wolfram not only to Germany but to the Allies as of 6 June 1944.

   Portugal did not enter the war as a belligerent, and its forces did not engage in combat, but some Portuguese experienced directly or indirectly the impact of fighting. Off Portugal or near her Atlantic islands, Portuguese naval personnel or commercial fishermen rescued at sea hundreds of victims of U-boat sinkings of Allied shipping in the Atlantic. German U-boats sank four or five Portuguese merchant vessels as well and, in 1944, a U-boat stopped, boarded, searched, and forced the evacuation of a Portuguese ocean liner, the Serpa Pinto, in mid-Atlantic. Filled with refugees, the liner was not sunk but several passengers lost their lives and the U-boat kidnapped two of the ship's passengers, Portuguese Americans of military age, and interned them in a prison camp. As for involvement in a theater of war, hundreds of inhabitants were killed and wounded in remote East Timor, a Portuguese colony near Indonesia, which was invaded, annexed, and ruled by Japanese forces between February 1942 and August 1945. In other incidents, scores of Allied military planes, out of fuel or damaged in air combat, crashed or were forced to land in neutral Portugal. Air personnel who did not survive such crashes were buried in Portuguese cemeteries or in the English Cemetery, Lisbon.

   Portugal's peripheral involvement in largely nonbelligerent aspects of the war accelerated social, economic, and political change in Portugal's urban society. It strengthened political opposition to the dictatorship among intellectual and working classes, and it obliged the regime to bolster political repression. The general economic and financial status of Portugal, too, underwent improvements since creditor Britain, in order to purchase wolfram, foods, and other materials needed during the war, became indebted to Portugal. When Britain repaid this debt after the war, Portugal was able to restore and expand its merchant fleet. Unlike most of Europe, ravaged by the worst war in human history, Portugal did not suffer heavy losses of human life, infrastructure, and property. Unlike even her neighbor Spain, badly shaken by its terrible Civil War (1936-39), Portugal's immediate postwar condition was more favorable, especially in urban areas, although deep-seated poverty remained.

   Portugal experienced other effects, especially during 1939-42, as there was an influx of about a million war refugees, an infestation of foreign spies and other secret agents from 60 secret intelligence services, and the residence of scores of international journalists who came to report the war from Lisbon. There was also the growth of war-related mining (especially wolfram and tin). Portugal's media eagerly reported the war and, by and large, despite government censorship, the Portuguese print media favored the Allied cause. Portugal's standard of living underwent some improvement, although price increases were unpopular.

   The silent invasion of several thousand foreign spies, in addition to the hiring of many Portuguese as informants and spies, had fascinating outcomes. "Spyland" Portugal, especially when Portugal was a key point for communicating with occupied Europe (1940-44), witnessed some unusual events, and spying for foreigners at least briefly became a national industry. Until mid-1944, when Allied forces invaded France, Portugal was the only secure entry point from across the Atlantic to Europe or to the British Isles, as well as the escape hatch for refugees, spies, defectors, and others fleeing occupied Europe or Vichy-controlled Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Through Portugal by car, ship, train, or scheduled civil airliner one could travel to and from Spain or to Britain, or one could leave through Portugal, the westernmost continental country of Europe, to seek refuge across the Atlantic in the Americas.

   The wartime Portuguese scene was a colorful melange of illegal activities, including espionage, the black market, war propaganda, gambling, speculation, currency counterfeiting, diamond and wolfram smuggling, prostitution, and the drug and arms trade, and they were conducted by an unusual cast of characters. These included refugees, some of whom were spies, smugglers, diplomats, and business people, many from foreign countries seeking things they could find only in Portugal: information, affordable food, shelter, and security. German agents who contacted Allied sailors in the port of Lisbon sought to corrupt and neutralize these men and, if possible, recruit them as spies, and British intelligence countered this effort. Britain's MI-6 established a new kind of "safe house" to protect such Allied crews from German espionage and venereal disease infection, an approved and controlled house of prostitution in Lisbon's bairro alto district.

   Foreign observers and writers were impressed with the exotic, spy-ridden scene in Lisbon, as well as in Estoril on the Sun Coast (Costa do Sol), west of Lisbon harbor. What they observed appeared in noted autobiographical works and novels, some written during and some after the war. Among notable writers and journalists who visited or resided in wartime Portugal were Hungarian writer and former communist Arthur Koestler, on the run from the Nazi's Gestapo; American radio broadcaster-journalist Eric Sevareid; novelist and Hollywood script-writer Frederick Prokosch; American diplomat George Kennan; Rumanian cultural attache and later scholar of mythology Mircea Eliade; and British naval intelligence officer and novelist-to-be Ian Fleming. Other notable visiting British intelligence officers included novelist Graham Greene; secret Soviet agent in MI-6 and future defector to the Soviet Union Harold "Kim" Philby; and writer Malcolm Muggeridge. French letters were represented by French writer and airman, Antoine Saint-Exupery and French playwright, Jean Giroudoux. Finally, Aquilino Ribeiro, one of Portugal's premier contemporary novelists, wrote about wartime Portugal, including one sensational novel, Volframio, which portrayed the profound impact of the exploitation of the mineral wolfram on Portugal's poor, still backward society.

   In Estoril, Portugal, the idea for the world's most celebrated fictitious spy, James Bond, was probably first conceived by Ian Fleming. Fleming visited Portugal several times after 1939 on Naval Intelligence missions, and later he dreamed up the James Bond character and stories. Background for the early novels in the James Bond series was based in part on people and places Fleming observed in Portugal. A key location in Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953) is the gambling Casino of Estoril. In addition, one aspect of the main plot, the notion that a spy could invent "secret" intelligence for personal profit, was observed as well by the British novelist and former MI-6 officer, while engaged in operations in wartime Portugal. Greene later used this information in his 1958 spy novel, Our Man in Havana, as he observed enemy agents who fabricated "secrets" for money.

   Thus, Portugal's World War II experiences introduced the country and her people to a host of new peoples, ideas, products, and influences that altered attitudes and quickened the pace of change in this quiet, largely tradition-bound, isolated country. The 1943-45 connections established during the Allied use of air and naval bases in Portugal's Azores Islands were a prelude to Portugal's postwar membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

host.

1 foundations (parte inferior) (de edificio).

base de maquillaje foundation (cream)

2 basis (fundamento, origen).

el petróleo es la base de su economía their economy is based on oil

ese argumento se cae por su base that argument is built on sand

partimos de la base de que… we assume that…

sentar las bases para to lay the foundations of

base imponible (finance) taxable income

3 base.

base aérea air base

base espacial space station

base de lanzamiento launch site

base naval naval base

base de operaciones operational base

4 base (chemistry).

5 base (math & geometry).

6 base.

7 makeup.

8 radix, base of a system of numbers or logarithms.

1^st person singular (yo) Present Subjunctive of Spanish verb: basar.

* * *

► nombre femenino

1 (gen) base

■ la base de la torre the base of the tower

2 figurado basis

■ las cereales son la base de nuestra agricultura cereals form the basis of our agriculture

■ si partimos de la base de que... if we start from the premise that...

3 QUÍMICA base, alkali

4 MATEMÁTICAS base

5 (en béisbol) base

► nombre femenino plural bases

1 (de concurso) rules

2 las bases (de partido etc) grass roots, rank and file

\

a base de (por) through, by means of, using 2 (de) consisting of

■ se hizo rico a base de trabajar mucho he became rich through hard work

■ una dieta a base de hortalizas y pescado a diet consisting of vegetables and fish

a base de bien familiar really well

en base a based on, on the basis of

base aérea air base

base de datos database

base de datos documental documentary database

base de datos relacional relational database

base de lanzamiento launch site

base de operaciones operational headquarters

base imponible taxable income

base naval naval base

* * *

1) base

2) basis

•

- base de datos

* * *

1. SF

1) (=parte inferior) base

2) (=fondo) [de pintura] background; [de maquillaje] foundation

3) (=fundamento) basis

- coger a algn fuera de base

4) (=componente principal)

5) (=conocimientos básicos) grounding

6) (Mil) base

7) pl bases

a) (=condiciones) [de concurso] conditions, rules; [de convocatoria] requirements

b) (Pol)

8) (Inform)

9) (Mat) [en una potencia] base

10) (Quím) base

11) (Téc) base, mounting

12) (Agrimensura) base, base line

13) (Ling) (tb: base derivativa) base form

14) (Béisbol) base

15) ** (=droga) base

SMF (Baloncesto) guard

3. ADJ INV

1) (=de partida) [campamento, campo] base antes de s ; [puerto] home antes de s

2) (=básico) [idea] basic; [documento, texto] provisional, draft

* * *

1)

a) ( parte inferior) base

b) tb

2)

a) ( fundamento)

b) ( componente principal)

c) ( conocimientos básicos)

- base de datos

- base imponible

3) (en locs)

4) ( centro de operaciones) base

- base de lanzamiento

5)

6) (Mat, Quím) base

7) bases femenino plural ( de concurso) rules (pl)

8)

a) ( en béisbol) base

b) base masculino y femenino ( en baloncesto) guard

adjetivo invariable

a) (básico, elemental) basic; <documento/texto> draft (before n)

b) < campamento> base (before n)

* * *

= base, base, base plate, basis [bases, -pl.], basis [bases, -pl.], bedrock, core, cornerstone [corner-stone], foundation, grounding, underpinning, cradle, warp and woof.

Ex. The reader should now have a reasonably firm base from which to begin a more detailed reading of the specification of elements.

Ex. The base of a notation is the set of symbols used in a specific notation.

Ex. The two windows in the base plate of the scanner help move the read head accurately across the bar codes.

Ex. These factors form the basis of the problems in identifying a satisfactory subject approach, and start to explain the vast array of different tolls used in the subject approach to knowledge.

Ex. These factors form the basis of the problems in identifying a satisfactory subject approach, and start to explain the vast array of different tolls used in the subject approach to knowledge.

Ex. We are the bedrock of our profession and the standards that we attain fundamentally affect the status of the profession.

Ex. The main list of index terms is the core of the thesaurus and defines the index language.

Ex. Abstracts are the cornerstone of secondary publications.

Ex. In the same way that citation orders may have more or less theoretical foundations, equally reference generation may follow a predetermined pattern.

Ex. The experience gained with these special schemes provided a grounding for work on the development of a new general scheme.

Ex. The criteria must be subject to continuing review and annual updating if they are to remain valid as the underpinning for a professional activity.

Ex. 'I have to leave fairly soon,' he said as he returned the receiver to its cradle, 'so let's get down to business'.

Ex. Training in self-help is part of the warp and woof of any tenable theory of reference work.

----

* a base de = in the form of, on a diet of.

* a base de carne = meaty [meatier -comp., meatiest -sup.].

* a base de cometer errores = the hard way.

* a base de errores = the hard way.

* afianzar las bases = strengthen + foundations.

* aplicar una capa base = prime.

* aprender Algo a base de cometer errores = learn + Nombre + the hard way.

* banda de base = baseband.

* basado en un gestor de bases de datos = DBMS-based.

* base cognitiva = knowledge base [knowledge-base].

* base de datos = data bank [databank], database [data base], database software.

* base de datos automatizada = computer database, computer-held database, computerised database, machine-readable database.

* base de datos bibliográfica = bibliographic database.

* base de datos bibliográfica de resúmenes = abstracts based bibliographic database.

* base de datos catalográfica = catalogue database, cataloguing database.

* base de datos comercial = commercial database.

* base de datos completa = full-provision database.

* base de datos con información confidencial = intelligence database.

* base de datos cruzada = cross database.

* base de datos de acceso mediante suscripción = subscription database.

* base de datos de autoridades = authority database.

* base de datos de carburantes = TULSA.

* base de datos de documentos primarios = source database.

* base de datos de documentos secundarios = reference database.

* base de datos de dominio público = public domain database.

* base de datos de educación = ERIC.

* base de datos de imágenes = image database, image bank.

* base de datos de investigación = research database.

* base de datos del gobierno de USA = CRECORD, FEDREG.

* base de datos de lógica difusa = fuzzy database.

* base de datos de medicina = MEDLINE.

* base de datos de negocios = business database.

* base de datos de pago = subscription database.

* base de datos de patentes = WPI.

* base de datos de propiedades = properties database.

* base de datos de referencia = reference database.

* base de datos de referencia a especialistas = referral database.

* base de datos de registros de catálogo = catalogue record database.

* base de datos de texto = textual data base, text-oriented database, text database.

* base de datos de texto completo = full text database.

* base de datos de texto libre = free text database.

* base de datos dirigida a un mercado específico = niche database.

* base de datos distribuida = distributed database.

* base de datos documental = textual data base.

* base de datos en CD-ROM = CD-ROM database.

* base de datos en disco óptico = optical disc database.

* base de datos en estado original = raw database.

* base de datos en línea = online database.

* base de datos estadística = statistical database.

* base de datos externa = external database.

* base de datos factual = factual database.

* base de datos financiera = financial database.

* base de datos interna = in-house database.

* base de datos jurídica = legal database.

* base de datos local = local area database.

* base de datos multimedia = multimedia database.

* base de datos no bibliográfica = non-bibliographic database.

* base de datos numérica = numeric database, numerical database.

* base de datos numérico-textual = textual-numeric database, text-numeric database.

* base de datos relacional = relational database.

* base de datos residente = resident database.

* base de datos terminológica = terminology database.

* base de datos textual = textual data base.

* base de operaciones = home base.

* base de un número = subscript numeral.

* base impositiva = tax base.

* base lógica = rationale.

* base militar = military base.

* bases = background.

* base teórica = theoretical underpinning, theoretical underpinning.

* búsqueda en múltiples bases de datos = cross database searching.

* campamento base = base camp.

* comenzar desde la base = start at + ground zero.

* como base para = as a basis for.

* con base de arena = sand-based.

* con base empírica = empirically-based.

* con base en = based in.

* conformar las bases = set + the framework.

* conocimiento de base = foundation study.

* constituir la base = form + the foundation.

* constituir la base de = form + the basis of.

* construir la base = form + the skeleton.

* creador de bases de datos = database producer.

* crear una base = form + a basis.

* de base popular = grassroots [grass-roots].

* descubrimiento de información en las bases de datos = knowledge discovery in databases (KDD).

* directorio de empresas en base de datos = company directory database.

* distribuidor de bases de datos = online system host, database host, host system, online service vendor.

* distribuidor de bases de datos en línea = online vendor.

* empezar desde la base = start at + ground zero.

* en base a = in terms of, on the grounds that/of, on the basis of.

* en la base = at the core (of).

* en su base = at its core.

* específico de una base de datos = database-specific.

* formar la base = form + the foundation.

* formar la base de = form + the basis of.

* gestión de bases de datos = database management.

* gestor de bases de datos = database management system (DBMS), DBMS system.

* gestor de bases de datos relacionales = relational database management system.

* hecho a base de parches = patchwork.

* industria de las bases de datos = database industry.

* línea base = baseline [base line].

* meta base de datos = meta-database.

* montar una base de datos = mount + database.

* novela escrita a base de fórmulas o clichés = formula fiction.

* organismo de base popular = grassroots organisation.

* partir de la base de que = start from + the premise that, build on + the premise that.

* poner las bases = lay + foundation, lay + the basis for.

* portada de una base de datos = file banner.

* presupuesto de base cero = zero-base(d) budgeting (ZZB), zero-base(d) budget.

* productor de bases de datos = database producer.

* programa de gestión de bases de datos = database management software.

* proveedor de bases de datos = database provider.

* que funciona a base de órdenes = command-driven.

* remedio a base de hierbas = herbal remedy.

* sentar base = make + things happen.

* sentar las bases = lay + foundation, set + the scene, set + the wheels in motion, set + the tone, set + the framework, set + the pattern, provide + the basis, lay + the basis for, provide + the material for.

* sentar las bases de Algo = lay + the groundwork for.

* ser la base de = be at the core of, form + the basis of, be at the heart of.

* sin base = unsupported, ill-founded.

* sobre base de arena = sand-based.

* sobre esta base = on this basis, on that basis.

* sobre la base de = in relation to, on the usual basis.

* subsistir a base de = live on.

* tipo de interés base = base rate, prime rate.

* tratamiento a base de hierbas = herbal treatment.

* * *

1)

a) ( parte inferior) base

b) tb

2)

a) ( fundamento)

b) ( componente principal)

c) ( conocimientos básicos)

- base de datos

- base imponible

3) (en locs)

4) ( centro de operaciones) base

- base de lanzamiento

5)

6) (Mat, Quím) base

7) bases femenino plural ( de concurso) rules (pl)

8)

a) ( en béisbol) base

b) base masculino y femenino ( en baloncesto) guard

adjetivo invariable

a) (básico, elemental) basic; <documento/texto> draft (before n)

b) < campamento> base (before n)

* * *

* * *

1 (parte inferior) base

la base de una columna the base of a column

el contraste está en la base the hallmark is on the base o the bottom

2 (fondo) background

sobre una base de tonos claros against o on a background of light tones

tb base de maquillaje foundation

4 (permanente) soft perm

(fundamento): no tienes suficiente base para asegurar eso you don't have sufficient grounds to claim that

la base de una buena salud es una alimentación sana the basis of good health is a balanced diet

esa afirmación carece de bases sólidas that statement is not founded o based on any firm evidence

sentar las bases de un acuerdo to lay the foundations of an agreement

un movimiento sin base popular a movement without a popular power base

tomar algo como base to take sth as a starting point

partiendo or si partimos de la base de que … if we start from the premise o assumption that …

sobre la base de estos datos podemos concluir que … on the basis of this information we can conclude that …

(componente principal): la base de su alimentación es el arroz rice is their staple food, their diet is based on rice

la base de este perfume es el jazmín this perfume has a jasmine base, this is a jasmine-based perfume

los diamantes forman la base de la economía the economy is based on diamonds

(conocimientos básicos): tiene una sólida base científica he has a sound basic knowledge of o he has a sound grounding in science

llegó sin ninguna base he hadn't mastered the basics when he arrived

database

relational database

tax base ( AmE), taxable income o base ( BrE)

C ( en locs):

a base de: a base de descansar se fue recuperando by resting she gradually recovered

lo consiguió a base de muchos sacrificios he had to make a lot of sacrifices to achieve it

un régimen a base de verdura a vegetable-based diet, a diet mainly consisting of vegetables

una bebida a base de ginebra a gin-based drink

vive a base de pastillas pills are what keep her going

de base ‹planteamiento/error› fundamental, basic;

‹militante› rank-and-file ( before n), ordinary ( before n); ‹movimiento/democracia› grass roots ( before n)

en base a ( crit); on the basis of

en base a las recientes encuestas on the evidence o basis of recent polls

una propuesta de negociación en base a un programa de diez puntos a proposal for negotiations based on a ten-point plan

a base de bien ( Esp fam): comimos a base de bien we really ate well, we had a really good meal

D (centro de operaciones) base

air base

launch site

center* of operations, operational headquarters ( sing o pl)

military base

naval base

E ( Pol) tb

bases rank and file (pl)

F ( Mat) base

G ( Quím) base

H bases fpl (de un concurso) rules (pl), conditions of entry (pl)

1 (en béisbol) base

base masculine and feminine (en baloncesto) guard

1 (básico, elemental) ‹alimento› basic, staple ( before n); ‹documento/texto› draft ( before n)

la idea base partió de … the basic idea stemmed from …

salario, sueldo

2 (de origen) ‹puerto› home ( before n); ‹campamento› base ( before n)

* * *

1ª persona singular (yo) pretérito indicativo

1ª persona singular (yo) presente subjuntivo

3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente subjuntivo

3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) imperativo

a) [ persona] basese EN algo:

◊ ¿en qué te basas para decir eso? and what basis o grounds do you have for saying that?;

b) [teoría/creencia/idea/opinión] basese EN algo to be based on sth

a) ( parte inferior) base

b) tb

◊ base de maquillaje foundation

a) ( fundamento) basis;

◊ la base de una buena salud the basis of good health;

b) ( conocimientos básicos):

◊ tiene una sólida base científica he has a sound grounding in science;

◊ a base de: un régimen a base de verdura a vegetable-based diet;

◊ base aérea/naval/militar air/naval/military base

◊ bases sustantivo femenino plural ( de concurso) rules (pl)

a) ( en béisbol) base

◊ base sustantivo masculino y femenino ( en baloncesto) guard

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♦ nf

1. [parte inferior] base;

colocaron un ramo de flores en la base del monumento they placed a bunch of flowers at the foot of the monument

2. [fundamento, origen] basis;

el respeto al medio ambiente es la base de un desarrollo equilibrado respect for the environment is o forms the basis of balanced development;

el petróleo es la base de su economía their economy is based on oil;

salí de la universidad con una sólida base humanística I left university with a solid grounding in the humanities;

ese argumento se cae por su base that argument is built on sand;

esta teoría carece de base this theory is unfounded, this theory is not founded on solid arguments;

partimos de la base de que… we assume that…;

se parte de la base de que todos ya saben leer we're starting with the assumption that everyone can read;

sentar las bases para… to lay the foundations of…;

sobre la base de esta encuesta se concluye que… on the basis of this opinion poll, it can be concluded that… Fin base imponible taxable income

3. [conocimientos básicos] grounding;

habla mal francés porque tiene mala base she doesn't speak French well because she hasn't learnt the basics properly

4. [militar, científica] base

base espacial space station;

base de lanzamiento launch site;

base naval naval base;

base de operaciones operational base;

5. Quím base

6. Geom base

7. Mat base

8. Ling base (form)

9. Informát base de datos database;

base de datos documental documentary database;

base de datos relacional relational database

10. Com base de clientes customer base

11.

12.

afiliado de las bases grassroots member

13. [en béisbol] base;

dar base por bola a alguien to walk sb

♦ nmf

♦ a base de loc prep

by (means of);

me alimento a base de verduras I live on vegetables;

el flan está hecho a base de huevos crème caramel is made with eggs;

a base de no hacer nada by not doing anything;

a base de trabajar duro fue ascendiendo puestos she moved up through the company by working hard;

aprender a base de equivocarse to learn the hard way;

se sacó la carrera a base de codos she got her degree by sheer hard work

a base de bien: nos humillaron a base de bien they really humiliated us;

lloraba a base de bien he was crying his eyes out;

los niños disfrutaron a base de bien the children had a great time

♦ en base a loc prep

en base a lo visto hasta ahora, no creo que puedan ganar from what I've seen so far, I don't think they can win;

el plan se efectuará en base a lo convenido the plan will be carried out in accordance with the terms agreed upon

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I f

1 QUÍM, MAT, MIL, DEP base

bases pl de concurso etc conditions

una dieta a base de frutas a diet based on fruit, a fruit-based diet;

consiguió comprarse una casa a base de ahorrar he managed to buy a house by (dint of) saving;

nos divertimos a base de bien we had a really o fam a real good time

II m/f en baloncesto guard

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base nf

1) : base, bottom

2) : base (in baseball)

3) fundamento: basis, foundation

base de datos : database

a base de : based on, by means of

en base a : based on, on the basis of

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base n

1. (en general) base

2. (fundamento) basis [pl. bases]