the faculty of contriving; inventive skill; "his skillful contrivance of answers to every problem"
an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.; "the plot contained too many improbable contrivances to be believable"
an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track"
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work; "it was the usual `boy gets girl' theme"
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"
provide with a particular theme or motive; "the restaurant often themes its menus"
(psychology) the aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation
the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances; "the behavior of small particles can be studied in experiments"
(Christianity) the doctrine of the ecumenical movement that promotes cooperation and better understanding among different religious denominations: aimed at universal Christian unity
a movement promoting union between religions (especially between Christian churches)
the act of escaping physically; "he made his escape from the mental hospital"; "the canary escaped from its cage"; "his flight was an indication of his guilt"
a means or way of escaping; "hard work was his escape from worry"; "they installed a second hatch as an escape"; "their escape route"
an avoidance of danger or difficulty; "that was a narrow escape"
an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy; "romantic novels were her escape from the stress of daily life"; "his alcohol problem was a form of escapism"
the unwanted discharge of a fluid from some container; "they tried to stop the escape of gas from the damaged pipe"; "he had to clean up the leak"
a plant originally cultivated but now growing wild
issue or leak, as from a small opening; "Gas escaped into the bedroom"
run away from confinement; "The convicted murderer escaped from a high security prison"
remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion; "We escaped to our summer house for a few days"; "The president of the company never manages to get away during the summer"