| astatine | (noun) a highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series); a decay product of uranium and thorium | Synonyms: At, atomic number 85 |
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| aster | (noun) star-shaped structure formed in the cytoplasm of a cell having fibers like rays that surround the centrosome during mitosis | - |
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| (noun) any of various chiefly fall-blooming herbs of the genus Aster with showy daisylike flowers | - |
| astereognosis | (noun) a loss of the ability to recognize objects by handling them | Synonyms: tactile agnosia |
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| asterion | (noun) the craniometric point at the junction of the lamboid suture and the occipitomastoid suture and the parietomastoid suture | - |
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| asterisk | (noun) a star-shaped character * used in printing | Synonyms: star |
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| asterism | (noun) (astronomy) a cluster of stars (or a small constellation) | - |
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| (noun) (mineralogy) a star-shaped figure with six rays that is seen in some crystal structures under reflected or transmitted light | - |
| asteroid | (noun) any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) | - |
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| asthenia | (noun) an abnormal loss of strength | Synonyms: astheny |
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| asthenopia | (noun) a tiredness of the eyes caused by prolonged close work by a person with an uncorrected vision problem | Synonyms: eyestrain |
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| asthenosphere | (noun) the lower layer of the crust | - |
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| astheny | (noun) an abnormal loss of strength | Synonyms: asthenia |
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| asthma | (noun) respiratory disorder characterized by wheezing; usually of allergic origin | Synonyms: asthma attack, bronchial asthma |
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| asthmatic | (noun) a person suffering from asthma | - |
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| astigmatism | (noun) (optics) defect in an optical system in which light rays from a single point fail to converge in a single focal point | Synonyms: astigmia |
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| (noun) (ophthalmology) impaired eyesight resulting usually from irregular conformation of the cornea; common in nearsighted people | Synonyms: astigmia |
| astigmia | (noun) (optics) defect in an optical system in which light rays from a single point fail to converge in a single focal point | Synonyms: astigmatism |
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| (noun) (ophthalmology) impaired eyesight resulting usually from irregular conformation of the cornea; common in nearsighted people | Synonyms: astigmatism |
| astilbe | (noun) any plant of the genus Astilbe having compound leaves and showy panicles of tiny colorful flowers | - |
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| astonishment | (noun) the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising | Synonyms: amazement |
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| astragal | (noun) a beaded molding for edging or decorating furniture | Synonyms: bead, beading, beadwork |
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| (noun) the bone in the ankle that articulates with the leg bones to form the ankle joint | Synonyms: anklebone, astragalus, talus |
| astragalus | (noun) the bone in the ankle that articulates with the leg bones to form the ankle joint | Synonyms: anklebone, astragal, talus |
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| astrakhan | (noun) the fur of young lambs | - |
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| astrantia | (noun) any plant of the genus Astrantia | Synonyms: masterwort |
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| astraphobia | (noun) a morbid fear of thunder and lightning | - |
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| astringence | (noun) a sharp astringent taste; the taste experience when a substance causes the mouth to pucker | Synonyms: astringency |
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| astringency | (noun) the ability to contract or draw together soft body tissues to check blood flow or restrict secretion of fluids | Synonyms: stypsis |
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| (noun) a sharp astringent taste; the taste experience when a substance causes the mouth to pucker | Synonyms: astringence |
| astringent | (noun) a drug that causes contraction of body tissues and canals | Synonyms: astringent drug, styptic |
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| astrobiology | (noun) the branch of biology concerned with the effects of outer space on living organisms and the search for extraterrestrial life | Synonyms: exobiology, space biology |
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| astrocyte | (noun) comparatively large neuroglial cell | - |
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| astrodome | (noun) a transparent dome on top of an airplane where the navigator can make celestial observations | - |
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| astrodynamics | (noun) the branch of astronomy that studies the motion of natural and artificial bodies in space | - |
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| astrogator | (noun) the navigator of a spacecraft | - |
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| astroglia | (noun) tissue consisting of large stellate neuroglial cells | Synonyms: macroglia |
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| astrolabe | (noun) an early form of sextant | - |
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| astrolatry | (noun) the worship of planets or stars | Synonyms: worship of heavenly bodies |
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| astrologer | (noun) someone who predicts the future by the positions of the planets and sun and Moon | Synonyms: astrologist |
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| astrologist | (noun) someone who predicts the future by the positions of the planets and sun and Moon | Synonyms: astrologer |
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| astrology | (noun) a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon | Synonyms: star divination |
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| astrometry | (noun) the branch of astronomy that deals with the measurement of the position and motion of celestial bodies | - |
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| astronaut | (noun) a person trained to travel in a spacecraft | Synonyms: cosmonaut, spaceman |
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| astronautics | (noun) the theory and practice of navigation through air or space | Synonyms: aeronautics |
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| astronavigation | (noun) navigating according to the positions of the stars | Synonyms: celestial navigation |
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| astronomer | (noun) a physicist who studies astronomy | Synonyms: stargazer, uranologist |
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| astronomy | (noun) the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole | Synonyms: uranology |
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| astrophysicist | (noun) an astronomer who studies the physical properties of celestial bodies | - |
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| astrophysics | (noun) the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical and chemical properties of celestial bodies | - |
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| astuteness | (noun) intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings) | Synonyms: perspicaciousness, perspicacity, shrewdness |
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| (noun) the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas | Synonyms: deepness, depth, profoundness, profundity |
| asylum | (noun) a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person | Synonyms: insane asylum, institution, mental home, mental hospital, mental institution, psychiatric hospital |
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| (noun) a shelter from danger or hardship | Synonyms: refuge, sanctuary |
| asymmetry | (noun) (mathematics) a lack of symmetry | - |
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| asymptote | (noun) a straight line that is the limiting value of a curve; can be considered as tangent at infinity | - |
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| asynchronism | (noun) the relation that exists when things occur at unrelated times | Synonyms: asynchrony, desynchronisation, desynchronization, desynchronizing |
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| asynchrony | (noun) the relation that exists when things occur at unrelated times | Synonyms: asynchronism, desynchronisation, desynchronization, desynchronizing |
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| asynclitism | (noun) the presentation during labor of the head of the fetus at an abnormal angle | Synonyms: obliquity |
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| asyndeton | (noun) the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used | - |
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| asynergia | (noun) absence of coordination of organs or body parts that usually work together harmoniously | Synonyms: asynergy |
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| asynergy | (noun) absence of coordination of organs or body parts that usually work together harmoniously | Synonyms: asynergia |
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| asystole | (noun) absence of systole; failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract (usually caused by ventricular fibrillation) with consequent absence of the heart beat leading to oxygen lack and eventually to death | Synonyms: cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary arrest |
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| atelectasis | (noun) collapse of an expanded lung (especially in infants); also failure of pulmonary alveoli to expand at birth | - |
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| atlas | (noun) a figure of a man used as a supporting column | Synonyms: telamon |
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| (noun) the 1st cervical vertebra | Synonyms: atlas vertebra |
| (noun) a collection of maps in book form | Synonyms: book of maps, map collection |
| atorvastatin | (noun) an oral drug (trade name Lipitor) that is effective in lowering triglycerides; potent in reducing LDL cholesterol because higher doses can be given | Synonyms: Lipitor |
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| audiocassette | (noun) a cassette for audiotape | - |
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| autoplasty | (noun) surgical repair by using tissue from another part of the patient's own body | - |
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| (noun) tissue that is taken from one site and grafted to another site on the same person | Synonyms: autograft |
| baas | (noun) South African term for `boss' | - |
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| babassu | (noun) tall feather palm of northern Brazil with hard-shelled nuts yielding valuable oil and a kind of vegetable ivory | Synonyms: babassu palm, coco de macao, Orbignya martiana, Orbignya phalerata, Orbignya spesiosa |
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| backblast | (noun) backfire from a recoilless weapon | Synonyms: back-blast |
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| backlash | (noun) an adverse reaction to some political or social occurrence | - |
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| (noun) a movement back from an impact | Synonyms: rebound, recoil, repercussion |
| backwash | (noun) the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward | Synonyms: wake |
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| (noun) the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller | Synonyms: airstream, race, slipstream, wash |
| (noun) the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event) | Synonyms: aftermath, wake |
| bacteriostasis | (noun) inhibition of the growth of bacteria | - |
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| badass | (noun) A mean or belligerent person | - |
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| (noun) A person considered impressive due to extreme attitudes, behavior or appearance | - |
| bagascosis | (noun) alveolitis caused by inhaling bagasse (sugarcane dust) | Synonyms: bagassosis |
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| bagasse | (noun) the dry dusty pulp that remains after juice is extracted from sugar cane or similar plants | - |
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| bagassosis | (noun) alveolitis caused by inhaling bagasse (sugarcane dust) | Synonyms: bagascosis |
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| balas | (noun) a pale rose-colored variety of the ruby spinel | Synonyms: balas ruby |
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| balderdash | (noun) trivial nonsense | Synonyms: fiddle-faddle, piffle |
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| ballast | (noun) any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship | - |
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| (noun) an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps | Synonyms: light ballast |
| (noun) a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations) | Synonyms: ballast resistor, barretter |
| (noun) an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings | - |
| (noun) coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads | - |
| bandmaster | (noun) the conductor of a band | - |
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| barbasco | (noun) West Indian shrub or small tree having leathery saponaceous leaves and extremely hard wood | Synonyms: Jacquinia keyensis, joewood |
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| basalt | (noun) the commonest type of solidified lava; a dense dark grey fine-grained igneous rock that is composed chiefly of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene | - |
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| bascule | (noun) a structure or device in which one end is counterbalanced by the other (on the principle of the seesaw) | - |
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| base | (noun) a support or foundation | Synonyms: pedestal, stand |
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| (noun) lowest support of a structure | Synonyms: foot, foundation, fundament, groundwork, substructure, understructure |
| (noun) a place that the runner must touch before scoring | Synonyms: bag |
| (noun) (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector | - |
| (noun) installation from which a military force initiates operations | Synonyms: base of operations |
| (noun) a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit | - |
| (noun) the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area | Synonyms: infrastructure |
| (noun) the principal ingredient of a mixture | - |
| (noun) the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained | Synonyms: basis, cornerstone, foundation, fundament, groundwork |
| (noun) (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed | Synonyms: radical, root, root word, stem, theme |
| (noun) a lower limit | Synonyms: floor |
| (noun) (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment | - |
| (noun) the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end | Synonyms: home |
| (noun) the bottom or lowest part | - |
| (noun) (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place | Synonyms: radix |
| (noun) the most important or necessary part of something | Synonyms: basis |
| (noun) the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed | - |
| (noun) any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water | Synonyms: alkali |
| (noun) a phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) | Synonyms: nucleotide |
| baseball | (noun) a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs | Synonyms: ball, baseball game |
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| (noun) a ball used in playing baseball | - |
| baseboard | (noun) a molding covering the joint formed by a wall and the floor | Synonyms: mopboard, skirting board |
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| baseline | (noun) the lines a baseball player must follow while running the bases | - |
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| (noun) the back line bounding each end of a tennis or handball court; when serving the server must not step over this line | Synonyms: service line |
| (noun) an imaginary line or standard by which things are measured or compared | - |
| basement | (noun) the lowermost portion of a structure partly or wholly below ground level; often used for storage | Synonyms: cellar |
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| (noun) the ground floor facade or interior in Renaissance architecture | - |
| baseness | (noun) unworthiness by virtue of lacking higher values | Synonyms: contemptibility, despicability, despicableness, sordidness |
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| basenji | (noun) small smooth-haired breed of African origin having a tightly curled tail and the inability to bark | - |
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| bash | (noun) a vigorous blow | Synonyms: bang, belt, knock, smash |
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| (noun) an uproarious party | Synonyms: brawl, do |
| bashfulness | (noun) feeling embarrassed due to modesty | Synonyms: abashment |
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| basic | (noun) (usually in the plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant | Synonyms: staple |
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| basics | (noun) principles from which other truths can be derived | Synonyms: basic principle, bedrock, fundamental principle, fundamentals |
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| (noun) a statement of fundamental facts or principles | Synonyms: rudiments |
| basidiocarp | (noun) the fruiting body of a basidiomycete which bears its spores on special cells | - |
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| basidiolichen | (noun) a lichen in which the fungus component is a basidiomycete | - |
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| basidiomycete | (noun) any of various fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota | Synonyms: basidiomycetous fungi |
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| basidiospore | (noun) a sexually produced fungal spore borne on a basidium | - |
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| basidium | (noun) a small club-shaped structure typically bearing four basidiospores at the ends of minute projections; unique to basidiomycetes | - |
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| basil | (noun) leaves of the common basil; used fresh or dried | Synonyms: sweet basil |
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| (noun) any of several Old World tropical aromatic annual or perennial herbs of the genus Ocimum | - |
| basileus | (noun) a ruler of the eastern Roman Empire | - |
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| basilica | (noun) a Roman building used for public administration | Synonyms: Roman basilica |
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| (noun) an early Christian church designed like a Roman basilica; or a Roman Catholic church or cathedral accorded certain privileges | - |
| basilisk | (noun) small crested arboreal lizard able to run on its hind legs; of tropical America | - |
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| (noun) ancient brass cannon | - |
| (noun) (classical mythology) a serpent (or lizard or dragon) able to kill with its breath or glance | - |
| basin | (noun) a bowl-shaped vessel; usually used for holding food or liquids | - |
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| (noun) a bathroom sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you can wash your hands and face | Synonyms: lavatory, washbasin, washbowl, washstand |
| (noun) the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet | Synonyms: catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, drainage basin, river basin, watershed |
| (noun) a natural depression in the surface of the land often with a lake at the bottom of it | - |
| (noun) the quantity that a basin will hold | Synonyms: basinful |
| basinet | (noun) a medieval steel helmet | - |
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| basinful | (noun) the quantity that a basin will hold | Synonyms: basin |
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