| amino acid |
any of the organic acids necessary to build proteins and sustain life, some of which cannot be synthesized in the body and so must be consumed in the diet. |
| bedpan |
a shallow pan for use as a toilet by one who cannot get out of bed. |
| blind spot |
an area nearby but which, or in which, one cannot see or hear what is happening, such as an area behind an automobile in motion that the driver cannot see through a rear-view mirror, or an acoustically dead spot in an auditorium. [1/4 definitions] |
| cannot but |
cannot do otherwise than; must. |
| can't |
contracted form of "cannot." |
| cast pearls before swine |
to offer or provide something of value to persons who cannot understand or appreciate it. |
| community spread |
the spread of an infectious disease within a community, especially the spread within a community where there are infected individuals who cannot trace the source of their infection and have not traveled to areas where there are known cases of the disease. |
| continuum |
a continuous extent or whole, the parts of which cannot be separately perceived. [1/2 definitions] |
| cry over spilled milk |
to worry unduly about something that cannot be undone. |
| cry over spilt milk |
to worry unduly about something that cannot be undone. |
| dead center |
the maximum or minimum extension of a crank and connecting rod in a reciprocating engine, in which both are in a straight line and the connecting rod cannot turn the crank. [1/2 definitions] |
| deconstruction |
a literary criticism philosophy, introduced in the 1960s, asserting that because words are defined using other words, the meaning of text has no stable reference and therefore cannot have a fixed meaning. [1/2 definitions] |
| doodad |
(informal) a term used for a small object or gadget for which one does not know or cannot remember the name; dingus; contraption. [1/2 definitions] |
| element |
any of the substances, now numbering 118, that, being made up of only one type of atom, cannot be chemically separated into simpler substances. [1/6 definitions] |
| enigma |
something puzzling, contradictory, or mysterious; something for which a solution cannot be found. [1/2 definitions] |
| fatalism |
a belief or doctrine that the events of life are predetermined and cannot be altered by human free will. [1/2 definitions] |
| fiat currency |
paper currency that is dependent for its value on a government fiat or decree, and cannot be exchanged for gold or silver. |
| fiat money |
paper currency that is dependent for its value on a government fiat or decree, and cannot be exchanged for gold or silver. |
| fossil |
something or someone that is outdated and cannot accommodate new ideas or practices. [1/3 definitions] |
| gestalt |
in psychology, a cognitive pattern that is whole and unified and cannot be predicted or inferred from its individual elements, even when they are considered together. |
| Gestalt psychology |
a psychological theory that holds that experience is composed of gestalts and that an organism's response to a situation cannot be analyzed as a sum of its elements. |