| aardwolf | (noun) striped hyena of southeast Africa that feeds chiefly on insects | Synonyms: Proteles cristata |
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| abalone | (noun) any of various large edible marine gastropods of the genus Haliotis having an ear-shaped shell with pearly interior | Synonyms: ear-shell |
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| abandon | (noun) the trait of lacking restraint or control; reckless freedom from inhibition or worry | Synonyms: unconstraint, wantonness |
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| (noun) a feeling of extreme emotional intensity | Synonyms: wildness |
| abandonment | (noun) withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility | Synonyms: defection, desertion |
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| (noun) the voluntary surrender of property (or a right to property) without attempting to reclaim it or give it away | - |
| (noun) the act of giving something up | Synonyms: desertion, forsaking |
| abarticulation | (noun) dislocation of a joint | - |
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| abator | (noun) a person who abates a nuisance | - |
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| abattoir | (noun) a building where animals are butchered | Synonyms: butchery, shambles, slaughterhouse |
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| abbot | (noun) the superior of an abbey of monks | Synonyms: archimandrite |
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| abbreviation | (noun) shortening something by omitting parts of it | - |
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| (noun) a shortened form of a word or phrase | - |
| abbreviator | (noun) one who shortens or abridges or condenses a written work | Synonyms: abridger |
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| abcoulomb | (noun) a unit of electrical charge equal to 10 coulombs | - |
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| abdication | (noun) a formal resignation and renunciation of powers | Synonyms: stepping down |
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| (noun) the act of abdicating | Synonyms: stepping down |
| abdicator | (noun) one who formally relinquishes an office or responsibility | - |
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| abdomen | (noun) the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis | Synonyms: belly, stomach, venter |
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| (noun) the cavity containing the major viscera; in mammals it is separated from the thorax by the diaphragm | Synonyms: abdominal cavity |
| abdominal | (noun) the muscles of the abdomen | Synonyms: ab, abdominal muscle |
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| abdominocentesis | (noun) centesis of the belly to remove fluid for diagnosis | Synonyms: paracentesis |
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| abdominoplasty | (noun) cosmetic surgery of the abdomen to remove wrinkles and tighten the skin over the stomach | Synonyms: tummy tuck |
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| abdominousness | (noun) the bodily property of a protruding belly | Synonyms: paunchiness |
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| abduction | (noun) the criminal act of capturing and carrying away by force a family member; if a man's wife is abducted it is a crime against the family relationship and against the wife | - |
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| (noun) (physiology) moving of a body part away from the central axis of the body | - |
| abductor | (noun) a muscle that draws a body part away from the median line | Synonyms: abductor muscle |
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| (noun) someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom) | Synonyms: kidnaper, kidnapper, snatcher |
| abelmosk | (noun) bushy herb of tropical Asia grown for its yellow or pink to scarlet blooms that resemble the hibiscus | Synonyms: Abelmoschus moschatus, Hibiscus moschatus, musk mallow |
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| aberration | (noun) an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image | Synonyms: distortion, optical aberration |
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| (noun) a disorder in one's mental state | - |
| (noun) a state or condition markedly different from the norm | Synonyms: aberrance, aberrancy, deviance |
| abetalipoproteinemia | (noun) a rare inherited disorder of fat metabolism; characterized by severe deficiency of beta-lipoproteins and abnormal red blood cells (acanthocytes) and abnormally low cholesterol levels | - |
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| abettor | (noun) one who helps or encourages or incites another | Synonyms: abetter |
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| abhorrence | (noun) hate coupled with disgust | Synonyms: abomination, detestation, execration, loathing, odium |
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| abhorrer | (noun) a signer of a 1679 address to Charles II in which those who petitioned for the reconvening of parliament were condemned and abhorred | - |
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| abiogenesis | (noun) a hypothetical organic phenomenon by which living organisms are created from nonliving matter | Synonyms: autogenesis, autogeny, spontaneous generation |
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| abiogenist | (noun) a believer in abiogenesis | - |
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| abiotrophy | (noun) a loss of vitality and a degeneration of cells and tissues not due to any apparent injury | - |
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| abjection | (noun) a low or downcast state | Synonyms: abasement, degradation |
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| abjuration | (noun) a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion | Synonyms: recantation, retraction |
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| ablactation | (noun) the act of substituting other food for the mother's milk in the diet of a child or young mammal | Synonyms: weaning |
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| (noun) the cessation of lactation | - |
| ablation | (noun) surgical removal of a body part or tissue | Synonyms: cutting out, excision, extirpation |
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| (noun) the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers | - |
| ablution | (noun) the ritual washing of a priest's hands or of sacred vessels | - |
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| abnegation | (noun) renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others | Synonyms: denial, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-renunciation |
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| (noun) the denial and rejection of a doctrine or belief | - |
| abnegator | (noun) one who gives up or relinquishes or renounces something | - |
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| abnormalcy | (noun) an abnormal physical condition resulting from defective genes or developmental deficiencies | Synonyms: abnormality |
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| abnormality | (noun) behavior that breaches the rule or etiquette or custom or morality | Synonyms: irregularity |
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| (noun) marked strangeness as a consequence of being abnormal | Synonyms: freakishness |
| (noun) retardation sufficient to fall outside the normal range of intelligence | Synonyms: mental defectiveness |
| (noun) an abnormal physical condition resulting from defective genes or developmental deficiencies | Synonyms: abnormalcy |
| abocclusion | (noun) the condition in which the upper teeth do not touch the lower teeth when biting | - |
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| abode | (noun) housing that someone is living in | Synonyms: domicile, dwelling, dwelling house, habitation, home |
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| (noun) any address at which you dwell more than temporarily | Synonyms: residence |
| abohm | (noun) a unit of resistance equal to a billionth of an ohm | - |
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| abolishment | (noun) the act of abolishing a system or practice or institution (especially abolishing slavery) | Synonyms: abolition |
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| abolition | (noun) the act of abolishing a system or practice or institution (especially abolishing slavery) | Synonyms: abolishment |
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| abolitionism | (noun) the doctrine that calls for the abolition of slavery | - |
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| abolitionist | (noun) a reformer who favors abolishing slavery | Synonyms: emancipationist |
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| abomasum | (noun) the fourth compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; the one where digestion takes place | Synonyms: fourth stomach |
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| abomination | (noun) an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence | - |
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| (noun) hate coupled with disgust | Synonyms: abhorrence, detestation, execration, loathing, odium |
| (noun) a person who is loathsome or disgusting | - |
| abominator | (noun) one who hates or loathes | Synonyms: loather |
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| aboriginal | (noun) an indigenous person who was born in a particular place | Synonyms: aborigine, indigen, indigene, native |
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| aborigine | (noun) an indigenous person who was born in a particular place | Synonyms: aboriginal, indigen, indigene, native |
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| abort | (noun) the act of terminating a project or procedure before it is completed | - |
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| aborticide | (noun) the act of destroying a fetus | Synonyms: feticide |
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| (noun) a drug (or other chemical agent) that causes abortion | Synonyms: abortifacient, abortion-inducing drug |
| abortifacient | (noun) a drug (or other chemical agent) that causes abortion | Synonyms: aborticide, abortion-inducing drug |
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| abortion | (noun) termination of pregnancy | - |
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| (noun) failure of a plan | Synonyms: miscarriage |
| abortionist | (noun) a person (who should be a doctor) who terminates pregnancies | - |
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| abortus | (noun) a human fetus whose weight is less than 0.5 kilogram when removed or expelled from the mother's body | - |
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| aboulia | (noun) a loss of will power | Synonyms: abulia |
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| above | (noun) an earlier section of a written text | - |
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| abrasion | (noun) the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice | Synonyms: attrition, detrition, grinding |
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| (noun) erosion by friction | Synonyms: attrition, corrasion, detrition |
| (noun) an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off | Synonyms: excoriation, scrape, scratch |
| abreaction | (noun) (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions | Synonyms: catharsis, katharsis |
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| abrocome | (noun) ratlike rodent with soft fur and large ears of the Andes | Synonyms: chinchilla rat, rat chinchilla |
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| abrogation | (noun) the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation | Synonyms: annulment, repeal |
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| abrogator | (noun) an authority or official empowered to abolish or annul or repeal | - |
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| abruption | (noun) an instance of sudden interruption | Synonyms: breaking off |
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| abscission | (noun) the act of cutting something off | Synonyms: cutting off |
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| (noun) shedding of flowers and leaves and fruit following formation of scar tissue in a plant | - |
| absconder | (noun) a fugitive who runs away and hides to avoid arrest or prosecution | - |
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| abscondment | (noun) the act of running away secretly (as to avoid arrest) | Synonyms: decampment |
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| absolute | (noun) something that is conceived or that exists independently and not in relation to other things; something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control; something that is not relative | - |
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| absoluteness | (noun) the quality of being absolute | - |
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| (noun) the quality of being complete or utter or extreme | Synonyms: starkness, utterness |
| absolution | (noun) the act of absolving or remitting; formal redemption as pronounced by a priest in the sacrament of penance | Synonyms: remission, remission of sin, remittal |
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| (noun) the condition of being formally forgiven by a priest in the sacrament of penance | - |
| absolutisation | (noun) the process of rendering something absolute or converting it into an absolute. | Synonyms: absolutization |
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| absolutism | (noun) the doctrine of an absolute being, often related to idealism in philosophy. | - |
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| (noun) an ideological belief in the complete and unrestricted power of government. | Synonyms: totalism, totalitarianism |
| (noun) a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) | Synonyms: authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, dictatorship, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny |
| (noun) dominance through threat of punishment and violence | Synonyms: despotism, tyranny |
| absolutist | (noun) one who advocates absolutism | - |
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| absolutization | (noun) the process of rendering something absolute or converting it into an absolute. | Synonyms: absolutisation |
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| absolver | (noun) someone who grants absolution | - |
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| absorbance | (noun) (physics) a measure of the extent to which a substance transmits light or other electromagnetic radiation | Synonyms: optical density, photographic density, transmission density |
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| absorbate | (noun) a material that has been or is capable of being absorbed | - |
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| absorbency | (noun) the property of being absorbent | - |
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| absorbent | (noun) a material having capacity or tendency to absorb another substance | Synonyms: absorbent material |
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| absorber | (noun) (physics) material in a nuclear reactor that absorbs radiation | - |
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| absorptance | (noun) a measure of the rate of decrease in the intensity of electromagnetic radiation (as light) as it passes through a given substance; the fraction of incident radiant energy absorbed per unit mass or thickness of an absorber | Synonyms: absorption coefficient, coefficient of absorption |
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| absorption | (noun) the mental state of being preoccupied by something | Synonyms: engrossment, preoccupancy, preoccupation |
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| (noun) complete attention; intense mental effort | Synonyms: concentration, engrossment, immersion |
| (noun) (chemistry) a process in which one substance permeates another; a fluid permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid | Synonyms: soaking up |
| (noun) the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion | Synonyms: assimilation |
| (noun) (physics) the process in which incident radiated energy is retained without reflection or transmission on passing through a medium | - |
| (noun) the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another | Synonyms: assimilation |
| absorptivity | (noun) (physics) the property of a body that determines the fraction of the incident radiation or sound flux absorbed or absorbable by the body | Synonyms: absorption factor |
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| abstemiousness | (noun) moderation in eating and drinking | - |
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| (noun) restricted to bare necessities | - |
| abstention | (noun) the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) | Synonyms: abstinence |
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| abstraction | (noun) a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples | Synonyms: abstract entity |
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| (noun) the act of withdrawing or removing something | - |
| (noun) an abstract painting | - |
| (noun) a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance | Synonyms: abstract |
| (noun) preoccupation with something to the exclusion of all else | Synonyms: abstractedness |
| (noun) the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances | Synonyms: generalisation, generalization |
| abstractionism | (noun) an abstract genre of art; artistic content depends on internal form rather than pictorial representation | Synonyms: abstract art |
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| (noun) a representation having no reference to concrete objects or specific examples | Synonyms: unrealism |
| abstractionist | (noun) a painter of abstract pictures | Synonyms: abstract artist |
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| abstractor | (noun) one who makes abstracts or summarizes information | Synonyms: abstracter |
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| abvolt | (noun) a unit of potential equal to one-hundred-millionth of a volt | - |
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| acanthion | (noun) the craniometric point at the anterior extremity of the intermaxillary suture | - |
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| acanthocephalan | (noun) any of various worms living parasitically in intestines of vertebrates having a retractile proboscis covered with many hooked spines | Synonyms: spiny-headed worm |
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| acanthocyte | (noun) an abnormal red blood cell that has thorny projections of protoplasm | - |
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| acanthocytosis | (noun) the presence of acanthocytes in the blood stream (as in abetalipoproteinemia) | - |
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| acantholysis | (noun) a breakdown of a cell layer in the epidermis (as in pemphigus) | - |
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| acanthoma | (noun) a neoplasm originating in the epidermis | Synonyms: skin tumor |
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| acanthopterygian | (noun) a teleost fish with fins that are supported by sharp inflexible rays | Synonyms: spiny-finned fish |
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| acanthosis | (noun) an abnormal but benign thickening of the prickle-cell layer of the skin (as in psoriasis) | - |
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| acariosis | (noun) infestation with itch mites | Synonyms: acariasis, acaridiasis |
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| acarophobia | (noun) a morbid fear of small insects and mites and worms | - |
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