| microclimate |
the climate of a small, specific, or partial area rather than that of the whole, as of a city or greenhouse. (Cf. macroclimate.) |
| microcline |
a lustrous feldspar mineral that occurs in various colors and is used in making porcelain. |
| micrococcus |
any of various rounded or oval-shaped bacteria that appear in irregular clusters and survive on dead or living organic matter. |
| microcomputer |
a small computer built with miniaturized components and used for applications that have a limited scope, such as small business and home computing and word processing. (See minicomputer.) |
| microcopy |
a photographic copy of printed or graphic matter that is very greatly reduced, usu. to facilitate storage. |
| microcosm |
a small, complete whole; tiny world. (Cf. macrocosm.) [2 definitions] |
| microcosmos |
a small, complete whole; tiny world; microcosm. [2 definitions] |
| microdot |
a photographic copy of something, such as written material or a document, that is reduced to an extremely tiny size, as for the purpose of espionage. |
| microeconomics |
(used with a sing. verb) the study of the nature of competition in the markets for particular goods and services. (Cf. macroeconomics.) |
| microelectronics |
(used with a sing. verb) the branch of electronics dealing with the development of miniature electronic circuits and their uses. |
| microencapsulation |
a process or procedure in which tiny particles, as of drug or medicinal substances, are enclosed or covered separately in order to cause gradual release of their effects. |
| microevolution |
the slight hereditary alteration of an organism, as by new combinations of genes, that precedes a small degree of change in a particular form of life. |
| microfiber |
a very fine synthetic fiber, or the typically soft fabric made from such fiber. |
| microfiche |
a card-sized sheet of microfilm for storage of photographically reduced images, usu. of many pages of text or data. |
| microfilm |
a film for recording highly reduced photographic images of material such as text or drawings. [2 definitions] |
| microfilmable |
combined form of microfilm. |
| microfluidic |
of or pertaining to the controlled flow of liquid through minute, hairlike tubes. |
| microfluidics |
the field that deals with manipulating the flow of liquids through minute, hairlike tubes. [2 definitions] |
| microform |
any form or type of photographically reduced document or print, such as microfilm or microfiche. |
| microgram |
a unit of weight equal to one millionth of a gram. [2 definitions] |
| micrograph |
a drawing or photograph of something as it is seen through a microscope. [2 definitions] |