| auscultation | (noun) listening to sounds within the body (usually with a stethoscope) | - |
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| authentication | (noun) validating the authenticity of something or someone | Synonyms: certification |
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| (noun) a mark on an article of trade to indicate its origin and authenticity | Synonyms: assay-mark, hallmark |
| authorisation | (noun) the act of conferring legality or sanction or formal warrant | Synonyms: authorization, empowerment |
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| (noun) the power or right to give orders or make decisions | Synonyms: authority, authorization, dominance, potency, say-so |
| (noun) official permission or approval | Synonyms: authority, authorization, sanction |
| (noun) a document giving an official instruction or command | Synonyms: authorization, mandate |
| authoritarian | (noun) a person who behaves in a tyrannical manner | Synonyms: dictator |
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| authorization | (noun) the act of conferring legality or sanction or formal warrant | Synonyms: authorisation, empowerment |
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| (noun) the power or right to give orders or make decisions | Synonyms: authorisation, authority, dominance, potency, say-so |
| (noun) official permission or approval | Synonyms: authorisation, authority, sanction |
| (noun) a document giving an official instruction or command | Synonyms: authorisation, mandate |
| autobahn | (noun) an expressway in a German-speaking country | - |
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| autochthon | (noun) the earliest known inhabitants of a region | - |
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| automation | (noun) the act of implementing the control of equipment with advanced technology; usually involving electronic hardware | Synonyms: mechanisation, mechanization |
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| (noun) equipment used to achieve automatic control or operation | - |
| (noun) the condition of being automatically operated or controlled | - |
| automaton | (noun) a mechanism that can move automatically | Synonyms: golem, robot |
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| (noun) a machine that operates on its own without the need for human control | - |
| (noun) someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way | Synonyms: zombi, zombie |
| autoregulation | (noun) (physiology) processes that maintain a generally constant physiological state in a cell or organism | - |
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| autosuggestion | (noun) a system for self-improvement developed by Emile Coue which was popular in the 1920s and 1930s | Synonyms: auto-suggestion, self-suggestion |
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| autumn | (noun) the season when the leaves fall from the trees | Synonyms: fall |
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| auxin | (noun) a plant hormone that promotes root formation and bud growth | - |
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| aversion | (noun) the act of turning yourself (or your gaze) away | Synonyms: averting |
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| (noun) a feeling of intense dislike | Synonyms: antipathy, distaste |
| aviation | (noun) travel via aircraft | Synonyms: air, air travel |
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| (noun) the art of operating aircraft | Synonyms: airmanship |
| (noun) the aggregation of a country's military aircraft | Synonyms: air power |
| (noun) the operation of aircraft to provide transportation | - |
| avocation | (noun) an auxiliary activity | Synonyms: by-line, hobby, pursuit, sideline, spare-time activity |
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| avulsion | (noun) a forcible tearing or surgical separation of one body part from another | - |
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| (noun) an abrupt change in the course of a stream that forms the boundary between two parcels of land resulting in the loss of part of the land of one landowner and a consequent increase in the land of another | - |
| awn | (noun) slender bristlelike appendage found on the bracts of grasses | - |
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| axon | (noun) long nerve fiber that conducts away from the cell body of the neuron | Synonyms: axone |
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| ayin | (noun) the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet | - |
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| azadirachtin | (noun) insecticide | - |
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| azithromycin | (noun) a systemic antibacterial medicine (trade name Zithromax) that is prescribed to treat bacterial infections in many different parts of the body | Synonyms: Zithromax |
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| baboon | (noun) large terrestrial monkeys having doglike muzzles | - |
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| bacitracin | (noun) a polypeptide antibiotic of known chemical structure effective against several types of Gram-positive organisms; usually applied locally | - |
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| backdown | (noun) a retraction of a previously held position | Synonyms: climb-down, withdrawal |
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| backgammon | (noun) a board game for two players; pieces move according to throws of the dice | - |
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| backspin | (noun) spin (usually of a moving ball) that retards or reverses the forward motion | - |
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| backwardation | (noun) the market condition wherein the price of a forward or futures contract is trading below the expected spot price at contract maturity. | - |
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| backwoodsman | (noun) a man who lives on the frontier | Synonyms: frontiersman, mountain man |
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| bacon | (noun) back and sides of a hog salted and dried or smoked; usually sliced thin and fried | - |
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| badminton | (noun) a game played on a court with light long-handled rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a net | - |
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| baggageman | (noun) an attendant who takes care of baggage | - |
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| bagman | (noun) a racketeer assigned to collect or distribute payoff money | - |
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| (noun) a salesman who travels to call on customers | Synonyms: commercial traveler, commercial traveller, roadman, traveling salesman, travelling salesman |
| bairn | (noun) a child: son or daughter | - |
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| balagan | (noun) a word for chaos or fiasco borrowed from modern Hebrew (where it is a loan word from Russian) | - |
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| balbriggan | (noun) a cotton knit fabric used for underwear | - |
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| baldachin | (noun) ornamented canopy supported by columns or suspended from a roof or projected from a wall (as over an altar) | - |
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| baleen | (noun) a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets | Synonyms: whalebone |
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| balloon | (noun) large tough nonrigid bag filled with gas or heated air | - |
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| (noun) small thin inflatable rubber bag with narrow neck | - |
| ballpen | (noun) a pen that has a small metal ball as the point of transfer of ink to paper | Synonyms: ballpoint, ballpoint pen, Biro |
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| ban | (noun) a decree that prohibits something | Synonyms: prohibition, proscription |
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| (noun) an official prohibition or edict against something | Synonyms: banning, forbiddance, forbidding |
| (noun) 100 bani equal 1 leu in Romania | - |
| (noun) 100 bani equal 1 leu in Moldova | - |
| (noun) a logarithmic unit which measures information or entropy, based on base 10 logarithms and powers of 10. | Synonyms: dit, Hart, hartley |
| bandoneon | (noun) a type of concertina popular in South America | - |
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| bandsman | (noun) a player in a band (especially a military band) | - |
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| bandwagon | (noun) a large ornate wagon for carrying a musical band | - |
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| (noun) a popular trend that attracts growing support | - |
| banian | (noun) a loose fitting jacket; originally worn in India | Synonyms: banyan |
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| (noun) East Indian tree that puts out aerial shoots that grow down into the soil forming additional trunks | Synonyms: banian tree, banyan, banyan tree, East Indian fig tree, Ficus bengalensis, Indian banyan |
| banyan | (noun) a loose fitting jacket; originally worn in India | Synonyms: banian |
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| (noun) East Indian tree that puts out aerial shoots that grow down into the soil forming additional trunks | Synonyms: banian, banian tree, banyan tree, East Indian fig tree, Ficus bengalensis, Indian banyan |
| barbacan | (noun) a tower that is part of a defensive structure (such as a castle) | Synonyms: barbican |
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| barbarian | (noun) a member of an uncivilized people | Synonyms: savage |
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| (noun) a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement | Synonyms: boor, churl, Goth, peasant, tike, tyke |
| barbarisation | (noun) an act that makes people primitive and uncivilized | Synonyms: barbarization |
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| barbarization | (noun) an act that makes people primitive and uncivilized | Synonyms: barbarisation |
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| barbican | (noun) a tower that is part of a defensive structure (such as a castle) | Synonyms: barbacan |
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| bargain | (noun) an agreement between parties (usually arrived at after discussion) fixing obligations of each | Synonyms: deal |
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| (noun) an advantageous purchase | Synonyms: buy, steal |
| bargeman | (noun) someone who operates a barge | Synonyms: bargee, lighterman |
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| barleycorn | (noun) a grain of barley | Synonyms: barley |
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| (noun) a grain of barley | - |
| barman | (noun) a male employee who mixes and serves alcoholic drinks at a bar | - |
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| barn | (noun) an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals | - |
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| (noun) (physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter | Synonyms: b |
| baron | (noun) a British peer of the lowest rank | - |
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| (noun) a very wealthy or powerful businessman | Synonyms: big businessman, business leader, king, magnate, mogul, power, top executive, tycoon |
| (noun) a nobleman (in various countries) of varying rank | - |
| barren | (noun) an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation | Synonyms: waste, wasteland |
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| baryon | (noun) any of the elementary particles having a mass equal to or greater than that of a proton and that participate in strong interactions; a hadron with a baryon number of +1 | Synonyms: heavy particle |
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| basidiolichen | (noun) a lichen in which the fungus component is a basidiomycete | - |
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| 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 |
| bassoon | (noun) a double-reed instrument; the tenor of the oboe family | - |
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| bastardisation | (noun) an act that debases or corrupts | Synonyms: bastardization |
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| bastardization | (noun) an act that debases or corrupts | Synonyms: bastardisation |
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| (noun) declaring or rendering bastard | - |
| bastion | (noun) projecting part of a rampart or other fortification | - |
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| (noun) a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during a battle | Synonyms: citadel |
| (noun) a group that defends a principle | - |
| batman | (noun) an orderly assigned to serve a British military officer | - |
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| baton | (noun) a thin tapered rod used by a conductor to lead an orchestra or choir | Synonyms: wand |
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| (noun) a hollow cylinder passed from runner to runner in a relay race | - |
| (noun) a hollow metal rod that is wielded or twirled by a drum major or drum majorette | - |
| (noun) a short staff carried by some officials to symbolize an office or an authority | - |
| (noun) a short stout club used primarily by policemen | Synonyms: billy, billy club, billystick, nightstick, truncheon |
| batrachian | (noun) any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species | Synonyms: anuran, frog, salientian, toad, toad frog |
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| batsman | (noun) (baseball) a ballplayer who is batting | Synonyms: batter, hitter, slugger |
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| battalion | (noun) an army unit usually consisting of a headquarters and three or more companies | - |
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| (noun) a large indefinite quantity | Synonyms: large number, multitude, pack, plurality |
| batten | (noun) a strip fixed to something to hold it firm | - |
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| (noun) stuffing made of rolls or sheets of cotton wool or synthetic fiber | Synonyms: batting |
| battlewagon | (noun) large and heavily armoured warship | Synonyms: battleship |
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| bazillion | (noun) a very large indefinite number (usually hyperbole) | Synonyms: billion, gazillion, jillion, million, trillion, zillion |
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| beacon | (noun) a radio station that broadcasts a directional signal for navigational purposes | Synonyms: radio beacon |
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| (noun) a tower with a light that gives warning of shoals to passing ships | Synonyms: beacon light, lighthouse, pharos |
| (noun) a fire (usually on a hill or tower) that can be seen from a distance | Synonyms: beacon fire |
| beadsman | (noun) a person who is paid to pray for the soul of another | Synonyms: bedesman |
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| bean | (noun) informal terms for a human head | Synonyms: attic, bonce, dome, noggin, noodle |
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| (noun) any of various edible seeds of plants of the family Leguminosae used for food | Synonyms: edible bean |
| (noun) any of various leguminous plants grown for their edible seeds and pods | Synonyms: bean plant |
| (noun) any of various seeds or fruits that are beans or resemble beans | - |
| bearskin | (noun) tall hat; worn by some British soldiers on ceremonial occasions | Synonyms: busby, shako |
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| (noun) the pelt of a bear | - |
| beatification | (noun) (Roman Catholic Church) an act of the Pope who declares that a deceased person lived a holy life and is worthy of public veneration; a first step toward canonization | - |
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| (noun) the action of rendering supremely blessed and extremely happy | - |
| (noun) a state of supreme happiness | Synonyms: beatitude, blessedness |
| beautician | (noun) someone who works in a beauty parlor | Synonyms: cosmetician |
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| beautification | (noun) the act of making something more beautiful | - |
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| bedesman | (noun) a person who is paid to pray for the soul of another | Synonyms: beadsman |
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| bedpan | (noun) a shallow vessel used by a bedridden patient for defecation and urination | - |
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| beggarman | (noun) a man who is a beggar | - |
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| beggarwoman | (noun) a woman who is a beggar | - |
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| bellman | (noun) someone employed as an errand boy and luggage carrier around hotels | Synonyms: bellboy, bellhop |
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| bellybutton | (noun) a scar where the umbilical cord was attached | Synonyms: belly button, navel, omphalos, omphalus, umbilicus |
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| ben | (noun) a mountain or tall hill | - |
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| benediction | (noun) the act of praying for divine protection | Synonyms: blessing |
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| (noun) a ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection | Synonyms: blessing |
| benefaction | (noun) an act intending or showing kindness and good will | Synonyms: benevolence |
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| (noun) a contribution of money or assistance | - |
| beneficiation | (noun) crushing and separating ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniques | Synonyms: mineral dressing, mineral extraction, mineral processing, ore dressing, ore processing |
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| benison | (noun) a spoken blessing | - |
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| benjamin | (noun) gum resin used especially in treating skin irritation | Synonyms: asa dulcis, benzoin, gum benjamin, gum benzoin |
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| benzofuran | (noun) a colorless oily compound extracted from coal tar and used in manufacturing synthetic resins | Synonyms: coumarone, cumarone |
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| benzoin | (noun) gum resin used especially in treating skin irritation | Synonyms: asa dulcis, benjamin, gum benjamin, gum benzoin |
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| benzylpenicillin | (noun) the penicillin that constitutes the principal component of many commercial antibiotics | Synonyms: penicillin G |
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| berlin | (noun) a limousine with a glass partition between the front and back seats | - |
|---|
| betatron | (noun) accelerates a continuous beam of electrons to high speeds by means of the electric field produced by changing magnetic flux | Synonyms: induction accelerator |
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| betweenbrain | (noun) the posterior division of the forebrain; connects the cerebral hemispheres with the mesencephalon | Synonyms: diencephalon, interbrain, thalmencephalon |
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| bevatron | (noun) a cyclotron that accelerates protons up to several billion electron volts | - |
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| bicorn | (noun) a cocked hat with the brim turned up to form two points | Synonyms: bicorne |
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