something of value given by one person to another to bind a contract
characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions; "both sides were deeply in earnest, even passionate"; "an entirely sincere and cruel tyrant"; "a film with a solemn social message"
providing protective supervision; watching over or safeguarding; "daycare that is educational and not just custodial"; "a guardian angel"; "tutelary gods"
total debits and credits are equal; "the books looked balanced"
being in a state of proper balance or equilibrium; "the carefully balanced seesaw"; "a properly balanced symphony orchestra"; "a balanced assessment of intellectual and cultural history"; "a balanced blend of whiskeys"; "the educated man shows a balanced development of all his powers"
based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence; "theories about the extinction of dinosaurs are still highly conjectural"; "the supposed reason for his absence"; "suppositious reconstructions of dead languages"; "hypothetical situation"
the quality of not putting yourself first but being willing to give your time or money or effort etc. for others; "rural people show more devotion and unselfishness than do their urban cousins"
completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose; "something cowardly and ignoble in his attitude"; "I think it a less evil that some criminals should escape than that the government should play an ignoble part"- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
not of the nobility; "of ignoble (or ungentle) birth"; "untitled civilians"
perceptible by the senses or intellect; "things happen in the earth and sky with no discernible cause"; "the newspaper reports no discernible progress in the negotiations"; "the skyline is easily discernible even at a distance of several miles"
capable of being seen or noticed; "a discernible change in attitude"; "a clearly evident erasure in the manuscript"; "an observable change in behavior"
capable of being perceived clearly; "an essay with a meaning that was not always discernible"
narrowly restricted in outlook or scope; "little sympathy with parochial mentality"; "insular attitudes toward foreigners"
suggestive of the isolated life of an island; "an exceedingly insular man; so deeply private as to seem inaccessible to the scrutiny of a novelist"- Leonard Michaels
relating to or characteristic of or situated on an island; "insular territories"; "Hawaii's insular culture"