a disposition toward schism and secession from a larger group; the principles and practices of separatists; "separatism is a serious problem in Quebec"; "demands for some form of separatism on grounds of religion have been perceived as a threat to mainstream education"
the act of disrupting an established order so it fails to continue; "the social dislocations resulting from government policies"; "his warning came after the breakdown of talks in London"
an event that results in a displacement or discontinuity
a displacement of a part (especially a bone) from its normal position (as in the shoulder or the vertebral column)
the state of being crude and incomplete and imperfect; "the study was criticized for incompleteness of data but it stimulated further research"; "the rawness of his diary made it unpublishable"
the quality of lacking any predictable order or plan
(thermodynamics) a thermodynamic quantity representing the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing mechanical work; "entropy increases as matter and energy in the universe degrade to an ultimate state of inert uniformity"
the act of subtracting (removing a part from the whole); "he complained about the subtraction of money from their paychecks"
an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated; "the subtraction of three from four leaves one"; "four minus three equals one"