(law) a proceeding (usually by a court) where evidence is taken for the purpose of determining an issue of fact and reaching a decision based on that evidence
the ability to hear; the auditory faculty; "his hearing was impaired"
a session (of a committee or grand jury) in which witnesses are called and testimony is taken; "the investigative committee will hold hearings in Chicago"
an opportunity to state your case and be heard; "they condemned him without a hearing"; "he saw that he had lost his audience"
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body; "he was unable to make his motion because he couldn't get recognition by the chairman"
the process of recognizing something or someone by remembering; "a politician whose recall of names was as remarkable as his recognition of faces"; "experimental psychologists measure the elapsed time from the onset of the stimulus to its recognition by the observer"
an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid; "the recognition of the Rio Grande as a boundary between Mexico and the United States"
approval; "give her recognition for trying"; "he was given credit for his work"; "give her credit for trying"; "the credits were given at the end of the film"
the explicit and formal acknowledgement of a government or of the national independence of a country; "territorial disputes were resolved in Guatemala's recognition of Belize in 1991"
(biology) the ability of one molecule to attach to another molecule that has a complementary shape; "molecular recognition drives all of biology, for instance, hormone and receptor or antibody-antigen interactions or the organization of molecules into larger biologically active entities"
the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged; "the partners were delighted with the recognition of their work"; "she seems to avoid much in the way of recognition or acknowledgement of feminist work prior to her own"
an administrative unit of government; "the Central Intelligence Agency"; "the Census Bureau"; "Office of Management and Budget"; "Tennessee Valley Authority"
the state of being in action or exerting power; "the agency of providence"; "she has free agency"
a major part of the central nervous system which conducts sensory and motor nerve impulses to and from the brain; a long tubelike structure extending from the base of the brain through the vertebral canal to the upper lumbar region
the junction between two neurons (axon-to-dendrite) or between a neuron and a muscle; "nerve impulses cross a synapse through the action of neurotransmitters"