characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is; "madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker"; "it was ironical that the well-planned scheme failed so completely"
set up on the principle of collectivism or ownership and production by the workers involved usually under the supervision of a government; "collective farms"
in full control of your faculties; "the witness remained collected throughout the cross-examination"; "perfectly poised and sure of himself"; "more self-contained and more dependable than many of the early frontiersmen"; "strong and self-possessed in the face of trouble"
brought together in one place; "the collected works of Milton"; "the gathered folds of the skirt"
occurring or existing at the same time or having the same period or phase; "recovery was synchronous with therapy"- Jour.A.M.A.; "a synchronous set of clocks"; "the synchronous action of a bird's wings in flight"; "synchronous oscillations"
(digital communication) pertaining to a transmission technique that requires a common clock signal (a timing reference) between the communicating devices in order to coordinate their transmissions
of plants or persons; having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another; "a wealthy class parasitic upon the labor of the masses"; "parasitic vines that strangle the trees"; "bloodsucking blackmailer"; "his indolent leechlike existence"
relating to or caused by parasites; "parasitic infection"
having more than one possible meaning; "ambiguous words"; "frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy"
having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns; "an ambiguous situation with no frame of reference"; "ambiguous inkblots"
uncertain as a sign or indication; "the evidence from bacteriologic analysis was equivocal"
open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead; "an equivocal statement"; "the polling had a complex and equivocal (or ambiguous) message for potential female candidates"; "the officer's equivocal behavior increased the victim's uneasiness"; "popularity is an equivocal crown"; "an equivocal response to an embarrassing question"
open to question; "aliens of equivocal loyalty"; "his conscience reproached him with the equivocal character of the union into which he had forced his son"-Anna Jameson