the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new; "she looked forward to her initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new scientific society"; "he regards the fork as a modern introduction"
a formal entry into an organization or position or office; "his initiation into the club"; "he was ordered to report for induction into the army"; "he gave a speech as part of his installation into the hall of fame"
the act of subjecting to experimental test in order to determine how well something works; "they agreed to end the testing of atomic weapons"
an examination of the characteristics of something; "there are laboratories for commercial testing"; "it involved testing thousands of children for smallpox"
a rocket-propelled guided missile that can escape the earth's atmosphere; makes observations of the solar system that cannot be made by terrestrial observation
the activity or result of distributing or disposing persons or things properly or methodically; "his organization of the work force was very efficient"
the act of organizing a business or an activity related to a business; "he was brought in to supervise the organization of a new department"
an ordered manner; orderliness by virtue of being methodical and well organized; "his compulsive organization was not an endearing quality"; "we can't do it unless we establish some system around here"
the act of populating (causing to live in a place); "he deplored the population of colonies with convicted criminals"
(statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn; "it is an estimate of the mean of the population"
a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area; "they hired hunters to keep down the deer population"
the people who inhabit a territory or state; "the population seemed to be well fed and clothed"
the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.); "people come and go, but the population of this town has remained approximately constant for the past decade"; "the African-American population of Salt Lake City has been increasing"
something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner"
a minor match preceding the main event
designed to orient or acquaint with a situation before proceeding; "a preliminary investigation"
inquire into; "the students had to research the history of the Second World War for their history project"; "He searched for information on his relatives on the web"; "Scientists are exploring the nature of consciousness"
attempt to find out in a systematically and scientific manner; "The student researched the history of that word"