a contestant who meets certain requirements and so qualifies to take part in the next stage of competition; "the tournament was won by a late qualifier"
a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.; "the explanation was very simple"; "I expected a brief account"
the act of explaining; making something plain or intelligible; "I heard his explanation of the accident"
one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the predicate contains the verb and its complements
(logic) what is predicated of the subject of a proposition; the second term in a proposition is predicated of the first term by means of the copula; "`Socrates is a man' predicates manhood of Socrates"
affirm or declare as an attribute or quality of; "The speech predicated the fitness of the candidate to be President"
make the (grammatical) predicate in a proposition; "The predicate `dog' is predicated of the subject `Fido' in the sentence `Fido is a dog'"
a belief that can guide behavior; "the architect has a theory that more is less"; "they killed him on the theory that dead men tell no tales"
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"
a small slit (as for inserting a coin or depositing mail); "he put a quarter in the slot"
a slot machine that is used for gambling; "they spend hours and hours just playing the slots"
(computer) a socket in a microcomputer that will accept a plug-in circuit board; "the PC had three slots for additional memory"
a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable; "he developed a version of slot grammar"
the trail of an animal (especially a deer); "he followed the deer's slot over the soft turf to the edge of the trees"
a position in a hierarchy or organization; "Bob Dylan occupied the top slot for several weeks"; "she beat some tough competition for the number one slot"
the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions
the way two individuals relate to each other; "their chemistry was wrong from the beginning -- they hated each other"; "a mysterious alchemy brought them together"
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 actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group; "the function of a teacher"; "the government must do its part"; "play its role"
what something is used for; "the function of an auger is to bore holes"; "ballet is beautiful but what use is it?"
a formal or official social gathering or ceremony; "it was a black-tie function"
a relation such that one thing is dependent on another; "height is a function of age"; "price is a function of supply and demand"
a mathematical relation such that each element of one set is associated with at least one element of another set
perform as expected when applied; "The washing machine won't go unless it's plugged in"; "Does this old car still run well?"; "This old radio doesn't work anymore"
not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters; "refloating the ship proved impractical because of the expense"; "he is intelligent but too impractical for commercial work"; "an impractical solution"