(law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature); "the rationale for capital punishment"; "the principles of internal-combustion engines"
as the agent of or on someone's part (usually expressed as "on behalf of" rather than "in behalf of"); "the guardian signed the contract on behalf of the minor child"; "this letter is written on behalf of my client";
for someone's benefit (usually expressed as `in behalf' rather than `on behalf' and usually with a possessive); "in your behalf"; "campaigning in his own behalf"; "spoke a good word in his friend's behalf"
any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation; "self-indulgence was his only philosophy"; "my father's philosophy of child-rearing was to let mother do it"
the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics
of a proposition that is necessarily true independent of fact or experience; "`all spinsters are unmarried' is an analytic proposition"
expressing a grammatical category by using two or more words rather than inflection
using or skilled in using analysis (i.e., separating a whole--intellectual or substantial--into its elemental parts or basic principles); "an analytic experiment"; "an analytic approach"; "a keenly analytic man"; "analytical reasoning"; "an analytical mind"
using or subjected to a methodology using algebra and calculus; "analytic statics"
(sometimes followed by `to') meeting the requirements especially of a task; "she had adequate training"; "her training was adequate"; "she was adequate to the job"
about average; acceptable; "more than adequate as a secretary"
enough to meet a purpose; "an adequate income"; "the food was adequate"; "a decent wage"; "enough food"; "food enough"