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"
a contestant who meets certain requirements and so qualifies to take part in the next stage of competition; "the tournament was won by a late qualifier"
drawing a figure satisfying certain conditions as part of solving a problem or proving a theorem; "the assignment was to make a construction that could be used in proving the Pythagorean theorem"
the act of constructing something; "during the construction we had to take a detour"; "his hobby was the building of boats"
the commercial activity involved in repairing old structures or constructing new ones; "their main business is home construction"; "workers in the building trades"
the creation of a construct; the process of combining ideas into a congruous object of thought
a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit; "I concluded from his awkward constructions that he was a foreigner"
an interpretation of a text or action; "they put an unsympathetic construction on his conduct"
acceleration of a chemical reaction induced the presence of material that is chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction; "of the top 50 commodity chemicals, 30 are created directly by catalysis and another 6 are made from raw materials that are catalytically produced"
a behavioral convention or pattern characteristic of all members of a particular culture or of all human beings; "some form of religion seems to be a human universal"
(logic) a proposition that asserts something of all members of a class
(linguistics) a grammatical rule (or other linguistic feature) that is found in all languages
adapted to various purposes, sizes, forms, operations; "universal wrench", "universal chuck"; "universal screwdriver"
applicable to or common to all members of a group or set; "the play opened to universal acclaim"; "rap enjoys universal appeal among teenage boys"
keep in mind or convey as a conviction or view; "take for granted"; "view as important"; "hold these truths to be self-evident"; "I hold him personally responsible"
a kind of person; "We'll not see his like again"; "I can't tolerate people of his ilk"
a similar kind; "dogs, foxes, and the like", "we don't want the likes of you around here"
resembling or similar; having the same or some of the same characteristics; often used in combination; "suits of like design"; "a limited circle of like minds"; "members of the cat family have like dispositions"; "as like as two peas in a pod"; "doglike devotion"; "a dreamlike quality"
equal in amount or value; "like amounts"; "equivalent amounts"; "the same amount"; "gave one six blows and the other a like number"; "an equal number"; "the same number"
feel about or towards; consider, evaluate, or regard; "How did you like the President's speech last night?"
be fond of; "I like my nephews"
find enjoyable or agreeable; "I like jogging"; "She likes to read Russian novels"
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually; "he went out to have a look"; "his look was fixed on her eyes"; "he gave it a good looking at"; "his camera does his looking for him"
physical appearance; "I don't like the looks of this place"
have a certain outward or facial expression; "How does she look?"; "The child looks unhappy"; "She looked pale after the surgery"
convey by one's expression; "She looked her devotion to me"
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards; "She looked over the expanse of land"; "Look at your child!"; "Look--a deer in the backyard!"
give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect; "She seems to be sleeping"; "This appears to be a very difficult problem"; "This project looks fishy"; "They appeared like people who had not eaten or slept for a long time"
accord in appearance with; "You don't look your age!"