| legal |
| 1. adj. Relating to the law or to lawyers. | |
| legal profession | |
| 2. adj. Having its basis in the law. | |
| legal precedent | |
| 3. adj. Being allowed or prescribed by law. | |
| legal motion | |
| 4. adj. (informal) Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age. | |
| 5. n. (informal) The legal department of a company. | |
| Legal wants this in writing. | |
| 6. n. (US, Canada) Paper in sheets 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm). | |
| 7. n. A spy who is attached to, and ostensibly employed by, an embassy, military outpost, etc. | |
| precluding |
| 1. v. present participle of preclude | |
| preclude |
| 1. v. Remove the possibility of; rule out; prevent or exclude; to make impossible. | |
| It has been raining for days, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that the skies will clear by this afternoon! | |
| debate |
| 1. n. An argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered or formal setting, often with more than two people, generally ending with a vote or other decision. | |
| After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion. | |
| 2. n. An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views. | |
| The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old. | |
| There was a bit of a debate over who should pay for the damaged fence. | |
| 3. n. Discussion of opposing views. | |
| There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles. | |
| 4. n. (frequently in the French form débat) A type of literary composition, taking the form of a discussion or disputation, commonly found in the vernacular medieval poetry of many European countries, as we | |
| 5. n. (obsolete) Strife, discord. | |
| 6. v. To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena. | |
| 7. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To fight. | |
| 8. v. (obsolete, transitive) To engage in combat for; to strive for. | |
| 9. v. To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide | |
| or |
| 1. conj. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either(...) | |
| In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian. | |
| He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what. | |
| 2. conj. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or. | |
| 3. conj. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities. | |
| 4. conj. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false). | |
| It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold! | |
| 5. conj. Connects two equivalent names. | |
| The country Myanmar, or Burma | |
| 6. n. (logic, electronics) alternative form of OR | |
| 7. n. (tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 8. adj. (tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 9. adv. (obsolete) Early (on). | |
| 10. adv. (obsolete) Earlier, previously. | |
| 11. prep. (now archaic, or dialect) Before; ere. | |
| expostulation |
| 1. n. The act of reasoning earnestly in order to dissuade or remonstrate. | |
| not |
| 1. adv. Negates the meaning of the modified verb. | |
| Did you take out the trash? No, I did not. | |
| Not knowing any better, I went ahead. | |
| 2. adv. To no degree. | |
| That is not red; it's orange. | |
| 3. conj. And not. | |
| I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken. | |
| He painted the car blue and black, not solid purple. | |
| 4. interj. (slang) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically. | |
| I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney... not! | |
| Sure, you're perfect the way you are... not! | |
| 5. n. Unary logical function NOT, true if input is false, or a gate implementing that negation function. | |
| You need a not there to conform with the negative logic of the memory chip. | |
| 6. contraction. (obsolete) Contraction of ne wot, wot not; know not; knows not. | |
| admitting |
| 1. v. present participle of admit | |
| 2. n. An act of admission; an allowing to enter. | |
| admit |
| 1. v. To allow to enter; to grant entrance, whether into a place, into the mind, or into consideration; to receive; to take. | |
| A ticket admits one into a playhouse. | |
| They were admitted into his house. | |
| to admit a serious thought into the mind | |
| to admit evidence in the trial of a cause | |
| 2. v. To allow (one) to enter on an office or to enjoy a privilege; to recognize as qualified for a franchise. | |
| to admit an attorney to practice law | |
| the prisoner was admitted to bail | |
| 3. v. To concede as true; to acknowledge or assent to, as an allegation which it is impossible to deny | |
| the argument or fact is admitted | |
| he admitted his guilt | |
| she admitted taking drugs / she admitted to taking drugs | |
| 4. v. To be capable of; to permit. In this sense, "of" may be used after the verb, or may be omitted. | |
| the words do not admit such a construction. | |
| 5. v. (intransitive) To give warrant or allowance, to grant opportunity or permission (+ of). | |
| circumstances do not admit of this | |
| the text does not admit of this interpretation | |
| 6. v. To allow to enter a hospital or similar facility for treatment. | |
| of |
| 1. prep. Expressing distance or motion. | |
| 2. prep. (now obsolete, or dialectal) From (of distance, direction), "off". | |
| 3. prep. (obsolete except in phrases) Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.). | |
| 4. prep. From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.). | |
| There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage. | |
| 5. prep. (North America, Scotland, Ireland) Before (the hour); to. | |
| What's the time? / Nearly a quarter of three. | |
| 6. prep. Expressing separation. | |
| 7. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.) | |
| Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband. | |
| 8. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.) | |
| He seemed devoid of human feelings. | |
| 9. prep. (obsolete) (Indicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.) | |
| 10. prep. Expressing origin. | |
| 11. prep. (Indicating an ancestral source or origin of descent.) | |
| The word is believed to be of Japanese origin. | |
| 12. prep. (Indicating a (non-physical) source of action or emotion; introducing a cause, instigation); from, out of, as an expression of. | |
| The invention was born of necessity. | |
| 13. prep. (following an intransitive verb) (Indicates the source or cause of the verb.) | |
| It is said that she died of a broken heart. | |
| 14. prep. (following an adjective) (Indicates the subject or cause of the adjective.) | |
| I am tired of all this nonsense. | |
| 15. prep. Expressing agency. | |
| 16. prep. (following a passive verb) (Indicates the agent (for most verbs, now usually expressed with by).) | |
| I am not particularly enamoured of this idea. | |
| 17. prep. (Used to introduce the "subjective genitive"; following a noun to form the head of a postmodifying noun phrase) (see also 'Possession' senses below). | |
| The contract can be terminated at any time with the agreement of both parties. | |
| 18. prep. (following an adjective) (Used to indicate the agent of something described by the adjective.) | |
| It was very brave of you to speak out like that. | |
| 19. prep. Expressing composition, substance. | |
| 20. prep. (after a verb expressing construction, making etc.) (Used to indicate the material or substance used.) | |
| Many 'corks' are now actually made of plastic. | |
| 21. prep. (directly following a noun) (Used to indicate the material of the just-mentioned object.) | |
| She wore a dress of silk. | |
| 22. prep. (Indicating the composition of a given collective or quantitative noun.) | |
| What a lot of nonsense! | |
| 23. prep. (Used to link a given class of things with a specific example of that class.) | |
| Welcome to the historic town of Harwich. | |
| 24. prep. (Links two nouns in near-apposition, with the first qualifying the second); "which is also". | |
| I'm not driving this wreck of a car. | |
| 25. prep. Introducing subject matter. | |
| 26. prep. (Links an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb and its subject (especially verbs to do with thinking, feeling, expressing etc.), with its subject-ma | |
| I'm always thinking of you. | |
| 27. prep. (following a noun (now chiefly nouns of knowledge, communication etc.)) (Introduces its subject matter); about, concerning. | |
| He told us the story of his journey to India. | |
| 28. prep. (following an adjective) (Introduces its subject matter.) | |
| This behaviour is typical of teenagers. | |
| 29. prep. Having partitive effect. | |
| 30. prep. (following a number or other quantitive word) (Introduces the whole for which is indicated only the specified part or segment); "from among". | |
| Most of these apples are rotten. | |
| 31. prep. (following a noun) (Indicates a given part.) | |
| 32. prep. (now archaic, literary, with preceding partitive word assumed, or as a predicate after to be) Some, an amount of, one of. | |
| On the whole, they seem to be of the decent sort. | |
| 33. prep. (Links to a genitive noun or possessive pronoun, with partitive effect (though now often merged with possessive senses, below).) | |
| He is a friend of mine. | |
| 34. prep. Expressing possession. | |
| 35. prep. Belonging to, existing in, or taking place in a given location, place or time. Compare "origin" senses, above. | |
| He was perhaps the most famous scientist of the twentieth century. | |
| 36. prep. Belonging to (a place) through having title, ownership or control over it. | |
| The owner of the nightclub was arrested. | |
| 37. prep. Belonging to (someone or something) as something they possess or have as a characteristic; (the "possessive genitive". (With abstract nouns, this inter | |
| Keep the handle of the saucepan away from the flames. | |
| 38. prep. Forming the "objective genitive". | |
| 39. prep. (Follows an agent noun, verbal noun or noun of action.) | |
| She had a profound distrust of the police. | |
| 40. prep. Expressing qualities or characteristics. | |
| 41. prep. (now archaic, or literary) (Links an adjective with a noun or noun phrase to form a quasi-adverbial qualifier); in respect to, as regards. | |
| My companion seemed affable and easy of manner. | |
| 42. prep. (Indicates a quality or characteristic); "characterized by". | |
| Pooh was said to be a bear of very little brain. | |
| 43. prep. (Indicates quantity, age, price, etc.) | |
| We have been paying interest at a rate of 10%. | |
| 44. prep. (US, informal considered incorrect by some) (Used to link singular indefinite nouns (preceded by the indefinite article) and attributive adjectives mod | |
| It's not that big of a deal. | |
| 45. prep. Expressing a point in time. | |
| 46. prep. (chiefly regional) During the course of (a set period of time, day of the week etc.), now specifically with implied repetition or regularity. | |
| Of an evening, we would often go for a stroll along the river. | |
| 47. prep. (UK dialectal, chiefly in negative constructions) For (a given length of time). | |
| I've not tekken her out of a goodly long while. | |
| 48. prep. (after a noun) (Indicates duration of a state, activity etc.) | |
| After a delay of three hours, the plane finally took off. | |
| question |
| 1. n. A sentence, phrase or word which asks for information, reply or response; an interrogative. | |
| What is your question? | |
| 2. n. A subject or topic for consideration or investigation. | |
| The question of seniority will be discussed at the meeting. | |
| There was a question of which material to use. | |
| 3. n. A doubt or challenge about the truth or accuracy of a matter. | |
| His claim to the property has come under question. | |
| The story is true beyond question. | |
| He obeyed without question. | |
| 4. n. A proposal to a meeting as a topic for deliberation. | |
| I move that the question be put to a vote. | |
| 5. n. Interrogation by torture. | |
| 6. n. (obsolete) Talk; conversation; speech. | |
| Made she no verbal question? Shakespeare King Lear ca. 1606 | |
| 7. v. To ask questions of; interrogate; enquire; ask for information. | |
| 8. v. To raise doubt, doubts about; have doubts about. | |
| 9. v. (obsolete) To argue; to converse; to dispute. | |
| or |
| 1. conj. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either(...) | |
| In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian. | |
| He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what. | |
| 2. conj. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or. | |
| 3. conj. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities. | |
| 4. conj. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false). | |
| It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold! | |
| 5. conj. Connects two equivalent names. | |
| The country Myanmar, or Burma | |
| 6. n. (logic, electronics) alternative form of OR | |
| 7. n. (tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 8. adj. (tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 9. adv. (obsolete) Early (on). | |
| 10. adv. (obsolete) Earlier, previously. | |
| 11. prep. (now archaic, or dialect) Before; ere. | |
| appeal |
| 1. v. (transitive, obsolete) To accuse (someone of something). | |
| 2. v. (transitive, legal, chiefly US, informal elsewhere) To apply for the removal of a cause from an inferior to a superior judge or court for the purpose of reexamination or for decision. | |
| 3. v. (intransitive) To call upon another to decide a question controverted, to corroborate a statement, to vindicate one's rights, etc. | |
| 4. v. (intransitive) To call on (someone) for aid | |
| I appeal to all of you to help the orphans. | |
| 5. v. (intransitive) To be attractive. | |
| That idea appeals to me. | |
| 6. v. (intransitive, cricket) To ask an umpire for a decision on whether a batsman is out or not, usually by saying "How's that" or "Howzat". | |
| 7. v. To summon; to challenge. | |
| 8. v. To invoke. | |
| 9. n. legal | |
| 10. n. An application for the removal of a cause or suit from an inferior to a superior judge or court for re-examination or review. | |
| 11. n. The mode of proceeding by which such removal is effected. | |
| 12. n. The right of appeal. | |
| 13. n. An accusation; a process which formerly might be instituted by one private person against another for some heinous crime demanding punishment for the p | |
| 14. n. An accusation of a felon at common law by one of his accomplices, which accomplice was then called an approver. | |
| 15. n. A summons to answer to a charge. | |
| 16. n. A call to a person or an authority for help, proof or a decision; entreaty. | |
| He made an appeal for volunteers to help at the festival. | |
| 17. n. (cricket) The act, by the fielding side, of asking an umpire for a decision on whether a batsman is out or not. | |
| 18. n. Resort to physical means; recourse. | |
| 19. n. The power to attract or interest. | |
| positive |
| 1. adj. Not negative or neutral. | |
| 2. adj. (legal) Formally laid down. | |
| 3. adj. Stated definitively and without qualification. | |
| 4. adj. Fully assured in opinion. | |
| 5. adj. (mathematics) Of number, greater than zero. | |
| 6. adj. Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better. | |
| 7. adj. Overconfident, dogmatic. | |
| 8. adj. (chiefly philosophy) Actual, real, concrete, not theoretical or speculative. | |
| 9. adj. (physics) Having more protons than electrons. | |
| 10. adj. (grammar) Describing the primary sense of an adjective, adverb or noun; not comparative, superlative, augmentative nor diminutive. | |
| 11. adj. Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations; absolute. | |
| 12. adj. Characterized by the existence or presence of distinguishing qualities or features, rather than by their absence. | |
| 13. adj. Characterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis. | |
| 14. adj. (photography) Of a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values. | |
| 15. adj. Favorable, desirable by those interested or invested in that which is being judged. | |
| 16. adj. Wholly what is expressed; colloquially downright, entire, outright. | |
| 17. adj. Optimistic. | |
| 18. adj. (chemistry) electropositive | |
| 19. adj. (chemistry) basic; metallic; not acid; opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals. | |
| 20. adj. (slang) HIV positive. | |
| 21. adj. (New Age jargon) Good, desirable, healthful, pleasant, enjoyable; (often precedes 'energy', 'thought', 'feeling' or 'emotion'). | |
| 22. n. A thing capable of being affirmed; something real or actual. | |
| 23. n. A favourable point or characteristic. | |
| 24. n. Something having a positive value in physics, such as an electric charge. | |
| 25. n. (grammar) A degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs. | |
| 26. n. (grammar) An adjective or adverb in the positive degree. | |
| 27. n. (photography) A positive image; one that displays true colors and shades, as opposed to a negative. | |
| 28. n. The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell. | |
| 29. n. A positive result of a test. | |
| Absolute |
| 1. n. (philosophy) That which is totally unconditioned, unrestricted, pure, perfect, or complete; that which can be thought of without relation to others. | |
| 2. adj. Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional. | |
| 3. adj. Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic. | |
| 4. adj. # Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory. | |
| 5. adj. Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree. | |
| absolute purity, absolute liberty | |
| 6. adj. Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed. | |
| absolute alcohol | |
| 7. adj. Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way. | |
| When caught, he told an absolute lie. an absolute denial of all charges | |
| 8. adj. Positive, certain; unquestionable. | |
| 9. adj. (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person, opinion or prediction). | |
| 10. adj. (especially, philosophy) Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards. | |
| the doctrine that absolute knowledge of things is possible, an absolute principle | |
| Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man in a state of nature as contradistinguished from relative rights and duties, or such as pertain to him in his social relations. | |
| 11. adj. (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative. | |
| absolute velocity, absolute motion, absolute position | |
| 12. adj. Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length. | |
| 13. adj. Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin. | |
| 14. adj. (grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; not in a syntactical relation with other parts of a text, or qualifying the text as a whole rather than any single word in it, l | |
| 15. adj. (of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominati | |
| 16. adj. (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry". | |
| 17. adj. (of a comparative, or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with re | |
| 18. adj. (of an, adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative). | |
| 19. adj. (of a usually-transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill". | |
| 20. adj. (Irish, Welsh) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of articles or compounded with a preverb. | |
| 21. adj. (math) As measured using an absolute value. | |
| absolute deviation | |
| absolute square | |
| mean absolute difference | |
| 22. adj. (math) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional. | |
| 23. adj. (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students. | |
| 24. adj. (art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art. | |
| absolute music | |
| 25. adj. (obsolete) Absolved; free. | |
| 26. n. That which is independent of context-dependent interpretation, inviolate, fundamental. | |
| moral absolutes | |
| 27. n. Anything that is absolute. | |
| 28. n. (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity. | |
| 29. n. (philosophy, usually capitalized) A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego. | |
| 30. n. (philosophy, usually capitalized) The unity of spirit and nature; God. | |
| 31. n. (philosophy, usually capitalized) The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced. | |
| 32. n. Concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes. | |
| decisive |
| 1. adj. Having the power or quality of deciding a question or controversy; putting an end to contest or controversy; final; conclusive. | |
| A decisive battle is fatal for one side's war chances | |
| A decisive vote | |
| 2. adj. Marked by promptness and decision. | |
| decisive action | |
| A noble instance of this attribute of the decisive character. -J. Foster. | |
| conclusive |
| 1. adj. Pertaining to a conclusion. | |
| 2. adj. Providing an end to something; decisive. | |
| The set of premises of a valid argument is conclusive in the sense that no further evidence could possibly be added to the set of premises which would make the argument invalid. | |
| final |
| 1. n. (North America) A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class. | |
| 2. n. (sports) The last round, game or match in a contest, after which the winner is determined. | |
| 3. n. A contest that narrows a field of contestants (finalists) to ranked positions, usually in numbered places (1st place/prize, 2nd place/prize, etc.) or a winner and numbered runners-up (1st runner-up, e | |
| 4. n. (phonology) The final part of a syllable, the combination of medial and rime in phonetics and phonology. | |
| 5. n. (music) The tonic or keynote of a Gregorian mode, and hence the final note of any conventional melody played in that mode. | |
| 6. adj. Last; ultimate. | |
| final solution; the final day of a school term | |
| 7. adj. Conclusive; decisive. | |
| a final judgment; the battle of Waterloo brought the contest to a final issue | |
| 8. adj. Respecting an end or object to be gained; respecting the purpose or ultimate end in view. | |
| 9. adj. (grammar) Expressing purpose; as in the term final clause. | |
| 10. adj. (linguistics) Word-final, occurring at the end of a word. | |
