| a2 |
used to introduce one particular thing or person of a group or kind, but one which is not considered known to the listener. [1/3 definitions] |
| absent without leave |
absent without permission from assigned military duty, but not necessarily with the intention of deserting; AWOL. |
| abstract |
depicting reality not as it appears to the senses of most people but in the way that an individual interprets it or wishes to suggest it; nonrepresentational. [1/13 definitions] |
| abstract expressionism |
(sometimes cap.) a school of painting that arose after World War II and that was marked by expressive but nonrepresentational images formed by an apparently random and often unconventional application of paint. |
| accessory |
in law, someone who helps a criminal before or after a crime, but does not commit the crime. [1/4 definitions] |
| account |
an arrangement wherein a bank or other financial institution holds a customer's deposited funds so that the funds are safe but can be accessed at any time by the customer, or the conception of this arrangement as a container for the funds that are kept. [1/16 definitions] |
| acetaminophen |
a drug used to relieve pain and reduce fever but which does not significantly reduce inflammation. |
| acquaintance |
a person one has met but does not know well. [1/3 definitions] |
| acronym |
a type of abbreviation used as a word and pronounced as a word. An acronym is formed by combining the initial letters (or initial parts) of a string of words. The pronunciation of an acronym is based on the typical rules of pronouncing words in a language and is not made up of the sounds of the names of individual letters. The abbreviations "AIDS," "FICA," and "PIN" are acronyms, but the abbreviations "FBI," ATM," and "DVD" are not. |
| adjunct |
something joined to another thing but not an integral part of it; supplement; accessory. [2/4 definitions] |
| admonish |
to criticize or rebuke mildly but firmly. [1/3 definitions] |
| admonition |
a mild but serious warning, correcting, or urging. [1/3 definitions] |
| adversative |
an adversative word or phrase, such as "but" or "on the contrary". [1/2 definitions] |
| agouti |
any of several related nocturnal, burrowing rodents found in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere that are about the size of a rabbit but have short ears and grizzled fur. |
| Alger Hiss |
a lawyer and U.S. public official accused in 1948 of having acted as a Communist spy in the 1930s. Convicted in 1950 on counts of perjury related to the investigation, Hiss was sentenced to five years in prison but maintained his innocence until his death (b.1904--d.1996). |
| a little |
sometimes, but not extremely often. [1/5 definitions] |
| alkali metal |
any of a group of highly reactive chemical elements, such as sodium and potassium, that are typically univalent cations forming various compounds, but that can be isolated as soft, low-density metals. |
| allegretto |
light, graceful, and quick in tempo, but slower than allegro (used as a musical direction). [1/2 definitions] |
| allogeneic |
belonging to the same species but genetically different. |
| allograft |
a tissue graft in which the donor and recipient are of the same species but are genetically different. |
| alpaca |
a fabric that closely resembles alpaca, but is made with synthetic or cotton fibers. [1/4 definitions] |