What is the meaning of the plural of basis?

Answer 1

The basis of something, such as an idea or decision, is its underlying support or foundation. When there are several such underlying factors, they are properly referred to as "bases," pronounced "base-eez." For example, I might tell my daughter that the basis of my decision that she must be home by midnight is my own experience as a teenager.

If there were several important factors behind my decision, I could properly say the bases of my decision are my own experience as a teenager and that we all have to get up in the morning to go visit Aunt Kate. However, the word "bases" is more for formal writing than informal speech, so I might prefer to say, "I'm basing my decision on the trouble I got into after midnight when I was your age and the fact that we've all got to get up early to visit Aunt Kate."

And, of course, in the real world, I'd probably not even delve into the bases of my decision and simply say, "Because I'm you're father, and I told you so!" ;-)