a basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy"
a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; "the principle of the conservation of mass"; "the principle of jet propulsion"; "the right-hand rule for inductive fields"
a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct; "their principles of composition characterized all their works"
a rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not violate his principles"
the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the story is to love thy neighbor"
concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles; "moral sense"; "a moral scrutiny"; "a moral lesson"; "a moral quandary"; "moral convictions"; "a moral life"
psychological rather than physical or tangible in effect; "a moral victory"; "moral support"
arising from the sense of right and wrong; "a moral obligation"
relating to principles of right and wrong; i.e. to morals or ethics; "moral philosophy"
(genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors"
a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo"
informal language consisting of words and expressions that are not considered appropriate for formal occasions; often vituperative or vulgar; "their speech was full of slang expressions"
hereditary succession to a title or an office or property
any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors; "my only inheritance was my mother's blessing"; "the world's heritage of knowledge"
(genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents
that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner
a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste; "she conveys an aura of elegance and gentility"
a quality of neatness and ingenious simplicity in the solution of a problem (especially in science or mathematics); "the simplicity and elegance of his invention"
incomprehensibility resulting from irrelevant information or meaningless facts or remarks; "all the noise in his speech concealed the fact that he didn't have anything to say"
the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience; "modern music is just noise to me"
a loud outcry of protest or complaint; "the announcement of the election recount caused a lot of noise"; "whatever it was he didn't like it and he was going to let them know by making as loud a noise as he could"
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound); "he enjoyed the street noises"; "they heard indistinct noises of people talking"; "during the firework display that ended the gala the noise reached 98 decibels"
electrical or acoustic activity that can disturb communication
something regarded as a normative example; "the convention of not naming the main character"; "violence is the rule not the exception"; "his formula for impressing visitors"