a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations; "in England they call a period a stop"
the end or completion of something; "death put a period to his endeavors"; "a change soon put a period to my tranquility"
a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed; "ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods"
one of three periods of play in hockey games
the interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenon
a stage in the history of a culture having a definable place in space and time; "a novel from the Victorian period"
colorless watery fluid of blood and lymph containing no cells and in which erythrocytes and leukocytes and platelets are suspended
(physical chemistry) a fourth state of matter distinct from solid or liquid or gas and present in stars and fusion reactors; a gas becomes a plasma when it is heated until the atoms lose all their electrons, leaving a highly electrified collection of nuclei and free electrons; "particles in space exist in the form of a plasma"
a green slightly translucent variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone
(ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other
a group of people living in a particular local area; "the team is drawn from all parts of the community"
a group of people having ethnic or cultural or religious characteristics in common; "the Christian community of the apostolic age"; "he was well known throughout the Catholic community"
a group of nations having common interests; "they hoped to join the NATO community"
common ownership; "they shared a community of possessions"
agreement as to goals; "the preachers and the bootleggers found they had a community of interests"
devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment; "the blunt truth"; "the crude facts"; "facing the stark reality of the deadline"
characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion; "blunt talking and straight shooting"; "a blunt New England farmer"; "I gave them my candid opinion"; "forthright criticism"; "a forthright approach to the problem"; "tell me what you think--and you may just as well be frank"; "it is possible to be outspoken without being rude"; "plainspoken and to the point"; "a point-blank accusation"
used of a knife or other blade; not sharp; "a blunt instrument"
having a broad or rounded end; "thick marks made by a blunt pencil"
a group of animals of the same type living together
(microbiology) a group of organisms grown from a single parent cell
a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government
a geographical area politically controlled by a distant country
one of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States
form a critical opinion of; "I cannot judge some works of modern art"; "How do you evaluate this grant proposal?" "We shouldn't pass judgment on other people"
a single undivided whole; "an idea is not a unit that can be moved from one brain to another"
an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit"
a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; "units of nucleic acids"
an individual or group or structure or other entity regarded as a structural or functional constituent of a whole; "the reduced the number of units and installations"; "the word is a basic linguistic unit"
people who are old collectively; "special arrangements were available for the aged"
(used of tobacco) aging as a preservative process (`aged' is pronounced as one syllable)
of wines, fruit, cheeses; having reached a desired or final condition; (`aged' pronounced as one syllable); "mature well-aged cheeses"
advanced in years; (`aged' is pronounced as two syllables); "aged members of the society"; "elderly residents could remember the construction of the first skyscraper"; "senior citizen"
at an advanced stage of erosion (pronounced as one syllable); "aged rocks"
lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center; "shallow water"; "a shallow dish"; "a shallow cut"; "a shallow closet"; "established a shallow beachhead"; "hit the ball to shallow left field"
not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply; "shallow breathing"; "a night of shallow fretful sleep"; "in a shallow trance"
lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious; "shallow people"; "his arguments seemed shallow and tedious"
marked by friendly companionship with others; "a social cup of coffee"
living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups; "a human being is a social animal"; "mature social behavior"
tending to move or live together in groups or colonies of the same kind; "ants are social insects"
composed of sociable people or formed for the purpose of sociability; "a purely social club"; "the church has a large social hall"; "a social director"
relating to human society and its members; "social institutions"; "societal evolution"; "societal forces"; "social legislation"
relating to or belonging to or characteristic of high society; "made fun of her being so social and high-toned"; "a social gossip colum"; "the society page"