the time required for something to fall to half its initial value (in particular, the time for half the atoms in a radioactive substance to disintegrate)
(of persons) freed from or not subject to an obligation or liability (as e.g. taxes) to which others or other things are subject; "a beauty somehow exempt from the aging process"; "exempt from jury duty"; "only the very poorest citizens should be exempt from income taxes"
grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to; "She exempted me from the exam"
a deliberate act of omission; "with the exception of the children, everyone was told the news"
an instance that does not conform to a rule or generalization; "all her children were brilliant; the only exception was her last child"; "an exception tests the rule"
grounds for adverse criticism; "his authority is beyond exception"
a short newspaper article about a particular person or group
particular to a given individual
concerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality; "a personal favor"; "for your personal use"; "personal papers"; "I have something personal to tell you"; "a personal God"; "he has his personal bank account and she has hers"
intimately concerning a person's body or physical being; "personal hygiene"
a note explaining an absence; "he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him"
a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with; "excuse someone's behavior"; "She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities"
serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again"
grant exemption or release to; "Please excuse me from this class"
ask for permission to be released from an engagement
accept an excuse for; "Please excuse my dirty hands"
inside or closer to the inside of the body; "the inner ear"
located inward; "Beethoven's manuscript looks like a bloody record of a tremendous inner battle"- Leonard Bernstein; "she thinks she has no soul, no interior life, but the truth is that she has no access to it"- David Denby; "an internal sense of rightousness"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.
innermost or essential; "the inner logic of Cubism"; "the internal contradictions of the theory"; "the intimate structure of matter"
exclusive to a center; especially a center of influence; "inner regions of the organization"; "inner circles of government"
a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right); "suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males"
clearly or sharply defined to the mind; "clear-cut evidence of tampering"; "Claudius was the first to invade Britain with distinct...intentions of conquest"; "trenchant distinctions between right and wrong"
having had all the trees removed at one time; "clear-cut hillsides are subject to erosion"
remove all the trees at one time; "clear-cut an acre of forest"
developed or executed with care and in minute detail; "a detailed plan"; "the elaborate register of the inhabitants prevented tax evasion"- John Buchan; "the carefully elaborated theme"