TERMS STARTING WITH
definable ::: a. --> Capable of being defined, limited, or explained; determinable; describable by definition; ascertainable; as, definable limits; definable distinctions or regulations; definable words.
define ::: 1. To explain or identify the nature or essential qualities of; describe. 2. To make clear the outline or form of.
defined ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Define
definement ::: n. --> The act of defining; definition; description.
definer ::: n. --> One who defines or explains.
defines the term Ancient of Days as “both the
define ::: v. t. --> To fix the bounds of; to bring to a termination; to end.
To determine or clearly exhibit the boundaries of; to mark the limits of; as, to define the extent of a kingdom or country.
To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly; as, the defining power of an optical instrument.
To determine the precise signification of; to fix the meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or
defining experience"; this negation is "the affirmation by the Unknowable . . . of Its freedom from all cosmic existence, ::: freedom, that is to say, from all positive terms of actual existence which consciousness in the universe can formulate to itself", not denying these terms "as a real expression of Itself", but denying "Its limitation by all expression or any expression whatsoever".
defining ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Define
definite ::: a. --> Having certain or distinct; determinate in extent or greatness; limited; fixed; as, definite dimensions; a definite measure; a definite period or interval.
Having certain limits in signification; determinate; certain; precise; fixed; exact; clear; as, a definite word, term, or expression.
Determined; resolved.
Serving to define or restrict; limiting; determining; as,
definite clause "logic" A {Horn clause} that has exactly one {positive literal}. (2000-01-24)
definite clause ::: (logic) A Horn clause that has exactly one positive literal.(2000-01-24)
definite integral: An operation on functions which approximates the sum of the values (of the function) weighted by the length (or measure) of the intervals for which the function takes that value. A real valued function ƒ being evaluated (integrated) over the closed interval [a, b] is written as
definitely ::: adv. --> In a definite manner; with precision; precisely; determinately.
definiteness ::: n. --> The state of being definite; determinateness; precision; certainty.
definite sentence "logic" A collection of {definite clauses}. (2003-12-04)
definite sentence ::: (logic) A collection of definite clauses.(2003-12-04)
definitional ::: a. --> Relating to definition; of the nature of a definition; employed in defining.
definitional constraint programming ::: (language) (DCP) A declarative, programming paradigm which integrates concurrent constraint programming, constraint logic programming and functional abstractions are reused to define new constraints, as the means of programming logical variables for parallel coordination.Goffin is a DCP language. (1995-03-28)
definitional constraint programming "language" (DCP) A declarative, programming paradigm which integrates {concurrent constraint programming}, {constraint logic programming} and {functional programming}. In this setting a concurrent constraint language becomes a coordination system that organises the concurrent interaction of parallel functional computations. The language is also a generalisation of parallel {functional programming} languages, such as {Id}, where {constraints} and constraint abstractions are reused to define new constraints, as the means of programming logical variables for parallel coordination. {Goffin} is a DCP language. (1995-03-28)
definition ::: n. --> The act of defining; determination of the limits; as, a telescope accurate in definition.
Act of ascertaining and explaining the signification; a description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term; as, the definition of "circle;" the definition of "wit;" an exact definition; a loose definition.
Description; sort.
An exact enunciation of the constituents which make up
definitive ::: a. --> Determinate; positive; final; conclusive; unconditional; express.
Limiting; determining; as, a definitive word.
Determined; resolved. ::: n. --> A word used to define or limit the extent of the
definitively ::: adv. --> In a definitive manner.
definitiveness ::: n. --> The quality of being definitive.
definitude ::: n. --> Definiteness.
Definition: In the development of a logistic system (q. v.) it is usually desirable to introduce new notations, beyond what is afforded by the primitive symbols alone, by means of syntactical definitions or nominal definitions, i.e., conventions which provide that certain symbols or expressions shall stand (as substitutes or abbreviations) for particular formulas of the system. This may be done either by particular definitions, each introducing a symbol or expression to stand for some one formula, or by schemata of definition, providing that any expression of a certain form shall stand for a certain corresponding formula (so condensing many -- often infinitely many -- particular definitions into a single schema). Such definitions, whether particular definitions or schemata, are indicated, in articles herein by the present writer, by an arrow →, the new notation introduced (the definiendum) being placed at the left, or base of the arrow, and the formula for which it shall stand (the definiens) being placed at the right, or head, of the arrow. Another sign commonly employed for the same purpose (instead of the arrow) is the equality sign = with the letters Df, or df, appearing either as a subscript or separately after the definiens.
Definition of a term: (in Scholasticism)
Definitions by Disciples
Definitions by Sri Aurobindo and Mother
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. Not formed or fashioned into a regular shape; not invested with any definite form; shapeless; formless. 2. Not formed or made; uncreated.
2. In Logic and Mathematics, a collection, a manifold, a multiplicity, a set, an ensemble, an assemblage, a totality of elements (usually numbers or points) satisfying a given condition or subjected to definite operational laws. According to Cantor, an aggregate is any collection of separate objects of thought gathered into a whole; or again, any multiplicity which can be thought as one; or better, any totality of definite elements bound up into a whole by means of a law. Aggregates have several properties: for example, they have the "same power" when their respective elements can be brought into one-to-one correspondence; and they are "enumerable" when they have the same power as the aggregate of natural numbers. Aggregates may be finite or infinite; and the laws applying to each type are different and often incompatible, thus raising difficult philosophical problems. See One-One; Cardinal Number; Enumerable. Hence the practice to isolate the mathematical notion of the aggregate from its metaphysical implications and to consider such collections as symbols of a certain kind which are to facilitate mathematical calculations in much the same way as numbers do. In spite of the controversial nature of infinite sets great progress has been made in mathematics by the introduction of the Theory of Aggregates in arithmetic, geometry and the theory of functions. (German, Mannigfaltigkeit, Menge; French, Ensemble).
3. In its historical aspect, aristocracy is a definite class or order known as hereditary nobility, which possesses prescriptive rank and privileges. This group developed from primitive monarchy, by the gradual limitation of the regal authority by those who formed the council of the king. The defense of their prerogatives led them naturally to consider themselves as a separate class fitted by birthright to monopolize government. But at the same time, they assumed a number of corresponding obligations (hence the aphorism noblesse oblige) particularly for maintaining justice, peace and security. [The characteristics of hereditary aristocracy are: descent and birthright, breeding and education, power to command, administrative and military capacities, readiness to fulfill personal and national obligations, interest in field sports, social equality of its members, aloofness and exclusiveness, moral security in the possession of real values regardless of criticism, competition or advancement.] In certain societies as in Great Britain, birth-right is not an exclusive factor: exceptional men are admitted by recognition into the aristocratic circle (circulation of the elite), after a tincture of breeding satisfying its external standards. The decline of hereditary nobility was due to economic rather than to social or political changes. Now aristocracy can claim only a social influence.
abdicate ::: v. t. --> To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy.
To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc.
To reject; to cast off.
To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
Accident: (Lat. accidens) (in Scholasticism) Has no independent and self-sufficient existence, but exists only in another being, a substance or another accident. As opposed to substance the accident is called praedicamentale; as naming features of the essence or quiddity of a being accidens praedicabile. Accidents may change, disappear or be added, while substance remains the same. Accidents are either proper, that is necessarily given with a definite essence (thus, the "faculties of the soul" are proper accidents, because to sense, strive, reason etc., is proper to the soul) or non-proper, contingent like color or size. -- R.A.
acidimetry ::: n. --> The measurement of the strength of acids, especially by a chemical process based on the law of chemical combinations, or the fact that, to produce a complete reaction, a certain definite weight of reagent is required.
adequate ::: a. --> Equal to some requirement; proportionate, or correspondent; fully sufficient; as, powers adequate to a great work; an adequate definition.
To equalize; to make adequate.
To equal.
adj. 1. Lacking in colour or brightness, vividness, clearness, loudness, strength, etc. 2. Indistinct, ill-defined; dim; faded; slight. 3. Feeble through hunger, fear, exhaustion, etc. 4. Inclined to ‘faint" or swoon. faintest, faint-foot. v. 5. To lose strength, brightness, colour, courage etc.; to fade. 6. To grow weak. 7. To feel weak, dizzy or exhausted; falter; about to lose consciousness. 8. To weaken in purpose or spirit. faints, fainted, fainting.
adjective ::: n. --> Added to a substantive as an attribute; of the nature of an adjunct; as, an adjective word or sentence.
Not standing by itself; dependent.
Relating to procedure.
A word used with a noun, or substantive, to express a quality of the thing named, or something attributed to it, or to limit or define it, or to specify or describe a thing, as distinct from something else. Thus, in phrase, "a wise ruler," wise is the adjective,
adjourn ::: v. t. --> To put off or defer to another day, or indefinitely; to postpone; to close or suspend for the day; -- commonly said of the meeting, or the action, of convened body; as, to adjourn the meeting; to adjourn a debate. ::: v. i. --> To suspend business for a time, as from one day to
Affinity (chemical): A potential of chemical energy; driving force; attraction. The term should be defined rigorously to mean the rate of change of chemical energy with changes in chemical mass. -- W.M.M.
Again, some further definitions:
Aggregate: 1. In a general sense, a collection, a totality, a whole, a class, a group, a sum, an agglomerate, a cluster, a mass, an amount or a quantity of something, with certain definite characteristics in each case.
Agnoiology: (Gr. agnoio + logos, discourse on ignorance) J. F. Ferrier (1854) coined both this term and the term epistemology as connoting distinctive areas of philosophic inquiry in support of ontology. Agnoiology is the doctrine of ignorance which seeks to determine what we are necessarily ignorant of. It is a critique of agnosticism prior to the latter's appearance. Ignorance is defined in relation to knowledge since one cannot be ignorant of anything which cannot possibly be known. -- H.H.
al- ::: A prefix. --> All; wholly; completely; as, almighty, almost.
To; at; on; -- in OF. shortened to a-. See Ad-.
The Arabic definite article answering to the English the; as, Alkoran, the Koran or the Book; alchemy, the chemistry.
A lengthy and overly detailed definition from Wikipedia:
Al-Quddus ::: The One who is free and beyond being defined, conditioned and limited by His manifest qualities and concepts! Albeit the engendered existence is the disclosure of His Names, He is pure and beyond from becoming defined and limited by them!
Although the noun when capitalized refers to an officer of the British judiciary or one of several officials of the Exchequer, formally titled the Queen’s or the King’s Remembrancer, who has the responsibility of collecting debts that are owed to the Crown or an official representing the City of London, especially on various ceremonial occasions, or to represents the inters of Parliament, when defined in lower case the first definition given is person who reminds.
ambiguous ::: 1. Open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; equivocal; questionable; indistinct, obscure, not clearly defined. 2. Of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify; admitting more than one interpretation, or explanation; of double meaning. 3. Of oracles, people, using words of double meaning. ambiguously.
ampere ::: n. --> Alt. of Ampere
The unit of electric current; -- defined by the International Electrical Congress in 1893 and by U. S. Statute as, one tenth of the unit of current of the C. G. S. system of electro-magnetic units, or the practical equivalent of the unvarying current which, when passed through a standard solution of nitrate of silver in water, deposits silver at the rate of 0.001118 grams per second. Called also the international ampere.
anhistous ::: a. --> Without definite structure; as, an anhistous membrane.
anirdesyam (anirdeshyam) ::: the indefinable. anirdesyam
anirdesyam ::: indefinable.
another ::: pron. & a. --> One more, in addition to a former number; a second or additional one, similar in likeness or in effect.
Not the same; different.
Any or some; any different person, indefinitely; any one else; some one else.
antepredicament ::: n. --> A prerequisite to a clear understanding of the predicaments and categories, such as definitions of common terms.
an ::: --> This word is properly an adjective, but is commonly called the indefinite article. It is used before nouns of the singular number only, and signifies one, or any, but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, every. ::: conj.
anthorism ::: n. --> A description or definition contrary to that which is given by the adverse party.
any ::: a. & pron. --> One indifferently, out of an indefinite number; one indefinitely, whosoever or whatsoever it may be.
Some, of whatever kind, quantity, or number; as, are there any witnesses present? are there any other houses like it? ::: adv. --> To any extent; in any degree; at all.
anybody ::: n. --> Any one out of an indefinite number of persons; anyone; any person.
A person of consideration or standing.
anything ::: n. --> Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; thing of any kind; something or other; aught; as, I would not do it for anything.
Expressing an indefinite comparison; -- with as or like. ::: adv. --> In any measure; anywise; at all.
Aorist: (Gr.) Referring to unspecified past time without implication of continuance or repetition; indefinite j undefined. -- C.A.B.
aoristic ::: a. --> Indefinite; pertaining to the aorist tense.
apas ::: 1. work, activity. ::: 2. the Waters. ::: 3. [one of the five bhutas]: water [see the following, definition 2].
a person who is practised in or who studies geometry, the branch of mathematics that deals with the deduction of the properties, measurement, and relationships of points, lines, angles, and figures in space from their defining conditions by means of certain assumed properties of space. World-Geometer"s.
aphorism ::: n. --> A comprehensive maxim or principle expressed in a few words; a sharply defined sentence relating to abstract truth rather than to practical matters.
a posteriori ::: --> Characterizing that kind of reasoning which derives propositions from the observation of facts, or by generalizations from facts arrives at principles and definitions, or infers causes from effects. This is the reverse of a priori reasoning.
Applied to knowledge which is based upon or derived from facts through induction or experiment; inductive or empirical.
a priori ::: --> Characterizing that kind of reasoning which deduces consequences from definitions formed, or principles assumed, or which infers effects from causes previously known; deductive or deductively. The reverse of a posteriori.
Applied to knowledge and conceptions assumed, or presupposed, as prior to experience, in order to make experience rational or possible.
Aristocracy: 1. In its original and etymological meaning (Greek: aristos-best, kratos-power), the government by the best; and by extension, the class of the chief persons in a country. As the standards by which the best can be determined and selected may vary, it is difficult to give a general definition of this term (Cf. C. Lewis, Political Terms, X. 73). But in particular, the implications of aristocracy may be rational, historical, political, pragmatic or analogical.
Aristotle divides the sciences into the theoretical, the practical and the productive, the aim of the first being disinterested knowledge, of the second the guidance of conduct, and of the third the guidance of the arts. The science now called logic, by him known as "analytic", is a discipline preliminary to all the others, since its purpose is to set forth the conditions that must be observed by all thinking which has truth as its aim. Science, in the strict sense of the word, is demonstrated knowledge of the causes of things. Such demonstrated knowledge is obtained by syllogistic deduction from premises in themselves certain. Thus the procedure of science differs from dialectic, which employs probable premises, and from eristic, which aims not at truth but at victory in disputation. The center, therefore, of Aristotle's logic is the syllogism, or that form of reasoning whereby, given two propositions, a third follows necessarily from them. The basis of syllogistic inference is the presence of a term common to both premises (the middle term) so related as subj ect or predicate to each of the other two terms that a conclusion may be drawn regarding the relation of these two terms to one another. Aristotle was the first to formulate the theory of the syllogism, and his minute analysis of its various forms was definitive, so far as the subject-predicate relation is concerned; so that to this part of deductive logic but little has been added since his day. Alongside of deductive reasoning Aristotle recognizes the necessity of induction, or the process whereby premises, particularly first premises, are established. This involves passing from the particulars of sense experience (the things more knowable to us) to the universal and necessary principles involved in sense experience (the things more knowable in themselves). Aristotle attaches most importance, in this search for premises, to the consideration of prevailing beliefs (endoxa) and the examination of the difficulties (aporiai) that have been encountered in the solution of the problem in hand. At some stage in the survey of the field and the theories previously advanced the universal connection sought for is apprehended; and apprehended, Aristotle eventually says, by the intuitive reason, or nous. Thus knowledge ultimately rests upon an indubitable intellectual apprehension; yet for the proper employment of the intuitive reason a wide empirical acquaintance with the subject-matter is indispensable.
Aristotle's Illusion: See Aristotle's Experiment. Arithmetic, foundations of: Arithmetic (i.e., the mathematical theory of the non-negative integers, 0, 1, 2, . . .) may be based on the five following postulates, which are due to Peano (and Dedekind, from whom Peano's ideas were partly derived): N(0) N(x) ⊃x N(S(x)). N(x) ⊃x [N(y) ⊃y [[S(x) = S(y)] ⊃x [x = y]]]. N(x) ⊃x ∼[S(x) = 0]. F(0)[N(x)F(x) ⊃x F(S(x))] ⊃F [N(x) ⊃x F(x)] The undefined terms are here 0, N, S, which may be interpreted as denoting, respectively, the non-negative integer 0, the propositional function to be a non-negative integer, and the function +1 (so that S(x) is x+l). The underlying logic may be taken to be the functional calculus of second order (Logic, formal, § 6), with the addition of notations for descriptions and for functions from individuals to individuals, and the individual constant 0, together with appropriate modifications and additions to the primitive formulas and primitive rules of inference (the axiom of infinity is not needed because the Peano postulates take its place). By adding the five postulates of Peano as primitive formulas to this underlying logic, a logistic system is obtained which is adequate to extant elementary number theory (arithmetic) and to all methods of proof which have found actual employment in elementary number theory (and are normally considered to belong to elementary number theory). But of course, the system, if consistent, is incomplete in the sense of Gödel's theorem (Logic, formal, § 6).
articulately ::: adv. --> After the manner, or in the form, of a joint.
Article by article; in distinct particulars; in detail; definitely.
With distinct utterance of the separate sounds.
artifact ::: Any product made by an individual or social holon. A bird's nest, an anthill, an automobile, a house, a piece of clothing, an airplane, the internet—these are all artifacts. An artifact's defining pattern does not come from itself, but rather is imposed or imprinted on it by an individual or social holon.
As an emergent materialist, he holds that everything happens by the blind combination of the elements of matter or energy, without any guidance, excluding the assumption of a non-material component. While he regards primary qualities as physical emergents, he yet considers secondary qualities, such as color, taste, and smell, as transphysical emergents. He favors the emergence of laws, qualities and classes. Psyche, physical in nature, combines with other material factors to make the life of the mind. Broad holds to a generative view of consciousness. Psyche persists after death for some time, floats about in cosmic space indefinitely, ready to combine with a material body under suitable conditions. He calls this theory the "compound theory of materialistic emergency." Sensa, he holds, are real, particular, short-lived existents. They are exclusively neither physical nor mental. He replaces the neo-realistic contrast between existents and subsistents, by a contrast between existents and substracta. Main works: Scientific Thought, 1923; The Mind and Its Place in Nature, 1925; Five Types of Ethical Theory, 1930. -- H.H.
aspersed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Asperse ::: a. --> Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface.
Bespattered; slandered; calumniated.
astatic ::: a. --> Having little or no tendency to take a fixed or definite position or direction: thus, a suspended magnetic needle, when rendered astatic, loses its polarity, or tendency to point in a given direction.
"At first when one begins to see, it is quite usual for the more ill-defined and imprecise figures to last longer while those which are successful, complete, precise in detail and outline are apt to be quite momentary and disappear in an instant. It is only when the subtle vision is well developed that the precise and full seeing lasts for a long time.” Letters on Yoga*
“At first when one begins to see, it is quite usual for the more ill-defined and imprecise figures to last longer while those which are successful, complete, precise in detail and outline are apt to be quite momentary and disappear in an instant. It is only when the subtle vision is well developed that the precise and full seeing lasts for a long time.” Letters on Yoga
Atman: (Skr.) Self, soul, ego, or I. Variously conceived in Indian philosophy, atomistically (cf. anu); monadically, etherially, as the hypothetical carrier of karma (q.v.), identical with the divine (cf. ayam atma brahma; tat tvam asi) or different from yet dependent on it, or as a metaphysical entity to be dissolved at death and reunited with the world ground. As the latter it is defined as "smaller than the small" (anor aniyan) or "greater than the great" (mahato mahiyan), i.e., magnitudeless as well as infinitely great. -- K.F.L.
at ::: prep. --> Primarily, this word expresses the relations of presence, nearness in place or time, or direction toward; as, at the ninth hour; at the house; to aim at a mark. It is less definite than in or on; at the house may be in or near the house. From this original import are derived all the various uses of at.
A relation of proximity to, or of presence in or on, something; as, at the door; at your shop; at home; at school; at hand; at sea and on land.
Attribute: Commonly, what is proper to a thing (Latm, ad-tribuere, to assign, to ascribe, to bestow). Loosely assimilated to a quality, a property, a characteristic, a peculiarity, a circumstance, a state, a category, a mode or an accident, though there are differences among all these terms. For example, a quality is an inherent property (the qualities of matter), while an attribute refers to the actual properties of a thing only indirectly known (the attributes of God). Another difference between attribute and quality is that the former refers to the characteristics of an infinite being, while the latter is used for the characteristics of a finite being. In metaphysics, an attribute is what is indispensable to a spiritual or material substance; or that which expresses the nature of a thing; or that without which a thing is unthinkable. As such, it implies necessarily a relation to some substance of which it is an aspect or conception. But it cannot be a substance, as it does not exist by itself. The transcendental attributes are those which belong to a being because it is a being: there are three of them, the one, the true and the good, each adding something positive to the idea of being. The word attribute has been and still is used more readily, with various implications, by substantialist systems. In the 17th century, for example, it denoted the actual manifestations of substance. [Thus, Descartes regarded extension and thought as the two ultimate, simple and original attributes of reality, all else being modifications of them. With Spinoza, extension and thought became the only known attributes of Deity, each expressing in a definite manner, though not exclusively, the infinite essence of God as the only substance. The change in the meaning of substance after Hume and Kant is best illustrated by this quotation from Whitehead: "We diverge from Descartes by holding that what he has described as primary attributes of physical bodies, are really the forms of internal relationships between actual occasions and within actual occasions" (Process and Reality, p. 471).] The use of the notion of attribute, however, is still favoured by contemporary thinkers. Thus, John Boodin speaks of the five attributes of reality, namely: Energy (source of activity), Space (extension), Time (change), Consciousness (active awareness), and Form (organization, structure). In theodicy, the term attribute is used for the essential characteristics of God. The divine attributes are the various aspects under which God is viewed, each being treated as a separate perfection. As God is free from composition, we know him only in a mediate and synthetic way thrgugh his attributes. In logic, an attribute is that which is predicated or anything, that which Is affirmed or denied of the subject of a proposition. More specifically, an attribute may be either a category or a predicable; but it cannot be an individual materially. Attributes may be essential or accidental, necessary or contingent. In grammar, an attribute is an adjective, or an adjectival clause, or an equivalent adjunct expressing a characteristic referred to a subject through a verb. Because of this reference, an attribute may also be a substantive, as a class-name, but not a proper name as a rule. An attribute is never a verb, thus differing from a predicate which may consist of a verb often having some object or qualifying words. In natural history, what is permanent and essential in a species, an individual or in its parts. In psychology, it denotes the way (such as intensity, duration or quality) in which sensations, feelings or images can differ from one another. In art, an attribute is a material or a conventional symbol, distinction or decoration.
Aufklärung: In general, this German word and its English equivalent Enlightenment denote the self-emancipation of man from mere authority, prejudice, convention and tradition, with an insistence on freer thinking about problems uncritically referred to these other agencies. According to Kant's famous definition "Enlightenment is the liberation of man from his self-caused state of minority, which is the incapacity of using one's understanding without the direction of another. This state of minority is caused when its source lies not in the lack of understanding, but in the lack of determination and courage to use it without the assistance of another" (Was ist Aufklärung? 1784). In its historical perspective, the Aufklärung refers to the cultural atmosphere and contrlbutions of the 18th century, especially in Germany, France and England [which affected also American thought with B. Franklin, T. Paine and the leaders of the Revolution]. It crystallized tendencies emphasized by the Renaissance, and quickened by modern scepticism and empiricism, and by the great scientific discoveries of the 17th century. This movement, which was represented by men of varying tendencies, gave an impetus to general learning, a more popular philosophy, empirical science, scriptural criticism, social and political thought. More especially, the word Aufklärung is applied to the German contributions to 18th century culture. In philosophy, its principal representatives are G. E. Lessing (1729-81) who believed in free speech and in a methodical criticism of religion, without being a free-thinker; H. S. Reimarus (1694-1768) who expounded a naturalistic philosophy and denied the supernatural origin of Christianity; Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) who endeavoured to mitigate prejudices and developed a popular common-sense philosophy; Chr. Wolff (1679-1754), J. A. Eberhard (1739-1809) who followed the Leibnizian rationalism and criticized unsuccessfully Kant and Fichte; and J. G. Herder (1744-1803) who was best as an interpreter of others, but whose intuitional suggestions have borne fruit in the organic correlation of the sciences, and in questions of language in relation to human nature and to national character. The works of Kant and Goethe mark the culmination of the German Enlightenment. Cf. J. G. Hibben, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, 1910. --T.G. Augustinianism: The thought of St. Augustine of Hippo, and of his followers. Born in 354 at Tagaste in N. Africa, A. studied rhetoric in Carthage, taught that subject there and in Rome and Milan. Attracted successively to Manicheanism, Scepticism, and Neo-Platontsm, A. eventually found intellectual and moral peace with his conversion to Christianity in his thirty-fourth year. Returning to Africa, he established numerous monasteries, became a priest in 391, Bishop of Hippo in 395. Augustine wrote much: On Free Choice, Confessions, Literal Commentary on Genesis, On the Trinity, and City of God, are his most noted works. He died in 430. St. Augustine's characteristic method, an inward empiricism which has little in common with later variants, starts from things without, proceeds within to the self, and moves upwards to God. These three poles of the Augustinian dialectic are polarized by his doctrine of moderate illuminism. An ontological illumination is required to explain the metaphysical structure of things. The truth of judgment demands a noetic illumination. A moral illumination is necessary in the order of willing; and so, too, an lllumination of art in the aesthetic order. Other illuminations which transcend the natural order do not come within the scope of philosophy; they provide the wisdoms of theology and mysticism. Every being is illuminated ontologically by number, form, unity and its derivatives, and order. A thing is what it is, in so far as it is more or less flooded by the light of these ontological constituents. Sensation is necessary in order to know material substances. There is certainly an action of the external object on the body and a corresponding passion of the body, but, as the soul is superior to the body and can suffer nothing from its inferior, sensation must be an action, not a passion, of the soul. Sensation takes place only when the observing soul, dynamically on guard throughout the body, is vitally attentive to the changes suffered by the body. However, an adequate basis for the knowledge of intellectual truth is not found in sensation alone. In order to know, for example, that a body is multiple, the idea of unity must be present already, otherwise its multiplicity could not be recognized. If numbers are not drawn in by the bodily senses which perceive only the contingent and passing, is the mind the source of the unchanging and necessary truth of numbers? The mind of man is also contingent and mutable, and cannot give what it does not possess. As ideas are not innate, nor remembered from a previous existence of the soul, they can be accounted for only by an immutable source higher than the soul. In so far as man is endowed with an intellect, he is a being naturally illuminated by God, Who may be compared to an intelligible sun. The human intellect does not create the laws of thought; it finds them and submits to them. The immediate intuition of these normative rules does not carry any content, thus any trace of ontologism is avoided. Things have forms because they have numbers, and they have being in so far as they possess form. The sufficient explanation of all formable, and hence changeable, things is an immutable and eternal form which is unrestricted in time and space. The forms or ideas of all things actually existing in the world are in the things themselves (as rationes seminales) and in the Divine Mind (as rationes aeternae). Nothing could exist without unity, for to be is no other than to be one. There is a unity proper to each level of being, a unity of the material individual and species, of the soul, and of that union of souls in the love of the same good, which union constitutes the city. Order, also, is ontologically imbibed by all beings. To tend to being is to tend to order; order secures being, disorder leads to non-being. Order is the distribution which allots things equal and unequal each to its own place and integrates an ensemble of parts in accordance with an end. Hence, peace is defined as the tranquillity of order. Just as things have their being from their forms, the order of parts, and their numerical relations, so too their beauty is not something superadded, but the shining out of all their intelligible co-ingredients. S. Aurelii Augustini, Opera Omnia, Migne, PL 32-47; (a critical edition of some works will be found in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vienna). Gilson, E., Introd. a l'etude de s. Augustin, (Paris, 1931) contains very good bibliography up to 1927, pp. 309-331. Pope, H., St. Augustine of Hippo, (London, 1937). Chapman, E., St. Augustine's Philos. of Beauty, (N. Y., 1939). Figgis, J. N., The Political Aspects of St. Augustine's "City of God", (London, 1921). --E.C. Authenticity: In a general sense, genuineness, truth according to its title. It involves sometimes a direct and personal characteristic (Whitehead speaks of "authentic feelings"). This word also refers to problems of fundamental criticism involving title, tradition, authorship and evidence. These problems are vital in theology, and basic in scholarship with regard to the interpretation of texts and doctrines. --T.G. Authoritarianism: That theory of knowledge which maintains that the truth of any proposition is determined by the fact of its having been asserted by a certain esteemed individual or group of individuals. Cf. H. Newman, Grammar of Assent; C. S. Peirce, "Fixation of Belief," in Chance, Love and Logic, ed. M. R. Cohen. --A.C.B. Autistic thinking: Absorption in fanciful or wishful thinking without proper control by objective or factual material; day dreaming; undisciplined imagination. --A.C.B. Automaton Theory: Theory that a living organism may be considered a mere machine. See Automatism. Automatism: (Gr. automatos, self-moving) (a) In metaphysics: Theory that animal and human organisms are automata, that is to say, are machines governed by the laws of physics and mechanics. Automatism, as propounded by Descartes, considered the lower animals to be pure automata (Letter to Henry More, 1649) and man a machine controlled by a rational soul (Treatise on Man). Pure automatism for man as well as animals is advocated by La Mettrie (Man, a Machine, 1748). During the Nineteenth century, automatism, combined with epiphenomenalism, was advanced by Hodgson, Huxley and Clifford. (Cf. W. James, The Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, ch. V.) Behaviorism, of the extreme sort, is the most recent version of automatism (See Behaviorism). (b) In psychology: Psychological automatism is the performance of apparently purposeful actions, like automatic writing without the superintendence of the conscious mind. L. C. Rosenfield, From Beast Machine to Man Machine, N. Y., 1941. --L.W. Automatism, Conscious: The automatism of Hodgson, Huxley, and Clifford which considers man a machine to which mind or consciousness is superadded; the mind of man is, however, causally ineffectual. See Automatism; Epiphenomenalism. --L.W. Autonomy: (Gr. autonomia, independence) Freedom consisting in self-determination and independence of all external constraint. See Freedom. Kant defines autonomy of the will as subjection of the will to its own law, the categorical imperative, in contrast to heteronomy, its subjection to a law or end outside the rational will. (Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, § 2.) --L.W. Autonomy of ethics: A doctrine, usually propounded by intuitionists, that ethics is not a part of, and cannot be derived from, either metaphysics or any of the natural or social sciences. See Intuitionism, Metaphysical ethics, Naturalistic ethics. --W.K.F. Autonomy of the will: (in Kant's ethics) The freedom of the rational will to legislate to itself, which constitutes the basis for the autonomy of the moral law. --P.A.S. Autonymy: In the terminology introduced by Carnap, a word (phrase, symbol, expression) is autonymous if it is used as a name for itself --for the geometric shape, sound, etc. which it exemplifies, or for the word as a historical and grammatical unit. Autonymy is thus the same as the Scholastic suppositio matertalis (q. v.), although the viewpoint is different. --A.C. Autotelic: (from Gr. autos, self, and telos, end) Said of any absorbing activity engaged in for its own sake (cf. German Selbstzweck), such as higher mathematics, chess, etc. In aesthetics, applied to creative art and play which lack any conscious reference to the accomplishment of something useful. In the view of some, it may constitute something beneficent in itself of which the person following his art impulse (q.v.) or playing is unaware, thus approaching a heterotelic (q.v.) conception. --K.F.L. Avenarius, Richard: (1843-1896) German philosopher who expressed his thought in an elaborate and novel terminology in the hope of constructing a symbolic language for philosophy, like that of mathematics --the consequence of his Spinoza studies. As the most influential apostle of pure experience, the posltivistic motive reaches in him an extreme position. Insisting on the biologic and economic function of thought, he thought the true method of science is to cure speculative excesses by a return to pure experience devoid of all assumptions. Philosophy is the scientific effort to exclude from knowledge all ideas not included in the given. Its task is to expel all extraneous elements in the given. His uncritical use of the category of the given and the nominalistic view that logical relations are created rather than discovered by thought, leads him to banish not only animism but also all of the categories, substance, causality, etc., as inventions of the mind. Explaining the evolution and devolution of the problematization and deproblematization of numerous ideas, and aiming to give the natural history of problems, Avenarius sought to show physiologically, psychologically and historically under what conditions they emerge, are challenged and are solved. He hypothesized a System C, a bodily and central nervous system upon which consciousness depends. R-values are the stimuli received from the world of objects. E-values are the statements of experience. The brain changes that continually oscillate about an ideal point of balance are termed Vitalerhaltungsmaximum. The E-values are differentiated into elements, to which the sense-perceptions or the content of experience belong, and characters, to which belongs everything which psychology describes as feelings and attitudes. Avenarius describes in symbolic form a series of states from balance to balance, termed vital series, all describing a series of changes in System C. Inequalities in the vital balance give rise to vital differences. According to his theory there are two vital series. It assumes a series of brain changes because parallel series of conscious states can be observed. The independent vital series are physical, and the dependent vital series are psychological. The two together are practically covariants. In the case of a process as a dependent vital series three stages can be noted: first, the appearance of the problem, expressed as strain, restlessness, desire, fear, doubt, pain, repentance, delusion; the second, the continued effort and struggle to solve the problem; and finally, the appearance of the solution, characterized by abating anxiety, a feeling of triumph and enjoyment. Corresponding to these three stages of the dependent series are three stages of the independent series: the appearance of the vital difference and a departure from balance in the System C, the continuance with an approximate vital difference, and lastly, the reduction of the vital difference to zero, the return to stability. By making room for dependent and independent experiences, he showed that physics regards experience as independent of the experiencing indlvidual, and psychology views experience as dependent upon the individual. He greatly influenced Mach and James (q.v.). See Avenarius, Empirio-criticism, Experience, pure. Main works: Kritik der reinen Erfahrung; Der menschliche Weltbegriff. --H.H. Averroes: (Mohammed ibn Roshd) Known to the Scholastics as The Commentator, and mentioned as the author of il gran commento by Dante (Inf. IV. 68) he was born 1126 at Cordova (Spain), studied theology, law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy, became after having been judge in Sevilla and Cordova, physician to the khalifah Jaqub Jusuf, and charged with writing a commentary on the works of Aristotle. Al-mansur, Jusuf's successor, deprived him of his place because of accusations of unorthodoxy. He died 1198 in Morocco. Averroes is not so much an original philosopher as the author of a minute commentary on the whole works of Aristotle. His procedure was imitated later by Aquinas. In his interpretation of Aristotelian metaphysics Averroes teaches the coeternity of a universe created ex nihilo. This doctrine formed together with the notion of a numerical unity of the active intellect became one of the controversial points in the discussions between the followers of Albert-Thomas and the Latin Averroists. Averroes assumed that man possesses only a disposition for receiving the intellect coming from without; he identifies this disposition with the possible intellect which thus is not truly intellectual by nature. The notion of one intellect common to all men does away with the doctrine of personal immortality. Another doctrine which probably was emphasized more by the Latin Averroists (and by the adversaries among Averroes' contemporaries) is the famous statement about "two-fold truth", viz. that a proposition may be theologically true and philosophically false and vice versa. Averroes taught that religion expresses the (higher) philosophical truth by means of religious imagery; the "two-truth notion" came apparently into the Latin text through a misinterpretation on the part of the translators. The works of Averroes were one of the main sources of medieval Aristotelianlsm, before and even after the original texts had been translated. The interpretation the Latin Averroists found in their texts of the "Commentator" spread in spite of opposition and condemnation. See Averroism, Latin. Averroes, Opera, Venetiis, 1553. M. Horten, Die Metaphysik des Averroes, 1912. P. Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et l'Averroisme Latin, 2d ed., Louvain, 1911. --R.A. Averroism, Latin: The commentaries on Aristotle written by Averroes (Ibn Roshd) in the 12th century became known to the Western scholars in translations by Michael Scottus, Hermannus Alemannus, and others at the beginning of the 13th century. Many works of Aristotle were also known first by such translations from Arabian texts, though there existed translations from the Greek originals at the same time (Grabmann). The Averroistic interpretation of Aristotle was held to be the true one by many; but already Albert the Great pointed out several notions which he felt to be incompatible with the principles of Christian philosophy, although he relied for the rest on the "Commentator" and apparently hardly used any other text. Aquinas, basing his studies mostly on a translation from the Greek texts, procured for him by William of Moerbecke, criticized the Averroistic interpretation in many points. But the teachings of the Commentator became the foundation for a whole school of philosophers, represented first by the Faculty of Arts at Paris. The most prominent of these scholars was Siger of Brabant. The philosophy of these men was condemned on March 7th, 1277 by Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, after a first condemnation of Aristotelianism in 1210 had gradually come to be neglected. The 219 theses condemned in 1277, however, contain also some of Aquinas which later were generally recognized an orthodox. The Averroistic propositions which aroused the criticism of the ecclesiastic authorities and which had been opposed with great energy by Albert and Thomas refer mostly to the following points: The co-eternity of the created word; the numerical identity of the intellect in all men, the so-called two-fold-truth theory stating that a proposition may be philosophically true although theologically false. Regarding the first point Thomas argued that there is no philosophical proof, either for the co-eternity or against it; creation is an article of faith. The unity of intellect was rejected as incompatible with the true notion of person and with personal immortality. It is doubtful whether Averroes himself held the two-truths theory; it was, however, taught by the Latin Averroists who, notwithstanding the opposition of the Church and the Thomistic philosophers, gained a great influence and soon dominated many universities, especially in Italy. Thomas and his followers were convinced that they interpreted Aristotle correctly and that the Averroists were wrong; one has, however, to admit that certain passages in Aristotle allow for the Averroistic interpretation, especially in regard to the theory of intellect. Lit.: P. Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et l'Averroisme Latin au XIIIe Siecle, 2d. ed. Louvain, 1911; M. Grabmann, Forschungen über die lateinischen Aristotelesübersetzungen des XIII. Jahrhunderts, Münster 1916 (Beitr. z. Gesch. Phil. d. MA. Vol. 17, H. 5-6). --R.A. Avesta: See Zendavesta. Avicehron: (or Avencebrol, Salomon ibn Gabirol) The first Jewish philosopher in Spain, born in Malaga 1020, died about 1070, poet, philosopher, and moralist. His main work, Fons vitae, became influential and was much quoted by the Scholastics. It has been preserved only in the Latin translation by Gundissalinus. His doctrine of a spiritual substance individualizing also the pure spirits or separate forms was opposed by Aquinas already in his first treatise De ente, but found favor with the medieval Augustinians also later in the 13th century. He also teaches the necessity of a mediator between God and the created world; such a mediator he finds in the Divine Will proceeding from God and creating, conserving, and moving the world. His cosmogony shows a definitely Neo-Platonic shade and assumes a series of emanations. Cl. Baeumker, Avencebrolis Fons vitae. Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Philos. d. MA. 1892-1895, Vol. I. Joh. Wittman, Die Stellung des hl. Thomas von Aquino zu Avencebrol, ibid. 1900. Vol. III. --R.A. Avicenna: (Abu Ali al Hosain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina) Born 980 in the country of Bocchara, began to write in young years, left more than 100 works, taught in Ispahan, was physician to several Persian princes, and died at Hamadan in 1037. His fame as physician survived his influence as philosopher in the Occident. His medical works were printed still in the 17th century. His philosophy is contained in 18 vols. of a comprehensive encyclopedia, following the tradition of Al Kindi and Al Farabi. Logic, Physics, Mathematics and Metaphysics form the parts of this work. His philosophy is Aristotelian with noticeable Neo-Platonic influences. His doctrine of the universal existing ante res in God, in rebus as the universal nature of the particulars, and post res in the human mind by way of abstraction became a fundamental thesis of medieval Aristotelianism. He sharply distinguished between the logical and the ontological universal, denying to the latter the true nature of form in the composite. The principle of individuation is matter, eternally existent. Latin translations attributed to Avicenna the notion that existence is an accident to essence (see e.g. Guilelmus Parisiensis, De Universo). The process adopted by Avicenna was one of paraphrasis of the Aristotelian texts with many original thoughts interspersed. His works were translated into Latin by Dominicus Gundissalinus (Gondisalvi) with the assistance of Avendeath ibn Daud. This translation started, when it became more generally known, the "revival of Aristotle" at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. Albert the Great and Aquinas professed, notwithstanding their critical attitude, a great admiration for Avicenna whom the Arabs used to call the "third Aristotle". But in the Orient, Avicenna's influence declined soon, overcome by the opposition of the orthodox theologians. Avicenna, Opera, Venetiis, 1495; l508; 1546. M. Horten, Das Buch der Genesung der Seele, eine philosophische Enzyklopaedie Avicenna's; XIII. Teil: Die Metaphysik. Halle a. S. 1907-1909. R. de Vaux, Notes et textes sur l'Avicennisme Latin, Bibl. Thomiste XX, Paris, 1934. --R.A. Avidya: (Skr.) Nescience; ignorance; the state of mind unaware of true reality; an equivalent of maya (q.v.); also a condition of pure awareness prior to the universal process of evolution through gradual differentiation into the elements and factors of knowledge. --K.F.L. Avyakta: (Skr.) "Unmanifest", descriptive of or standing for brahman (q.v.) in one of its or "his" aspects, symbolizing the superabundance of the creative principle, or designating the condition of the universe not yet become phenomenal (aja, unborn). --K.F.L. Awareness: Consciousness considered in its aspect of act; an act of attentive awareness such as the sensing of a color patch or the feeling of pain is distinguished from the content attended to, the sensed color patch, the felt pain. The psychologlcal theory of intentional act was advanced by F. Brentano (Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte) and received its epistemological development by Meinong, Husserl, Moore, Laird and Broad. See Intentionalism. --L.W. Axiological: (Ger. axiologisch) In Husserl: Of or pertaining to value or theory of value (the latter term understood as including disvalue and value-indifference). --D.C. Axiological ethics: Any ethics which makes the theory of obligation entirely dependent on the theory of value, by making the determination of the rightness of an action wholly dependent on a consideration of the value or goodness of something, e.g. the action itself, its motive, or its consequences, actual or probable. Opposed to deontological ethics. See also teleological ethics. --W.K.F. Axiologic Realism: In metaphysics, theory that value as well as logic, qualities as well as relations, have their being and exist external to the mind and independently of it. Applicable to the philosophy of many though not all realists in the history of philosophy, from Plato to G. E. Moore, A. N. Whitehead, and N, Hartmann. --J.K.F. Axiology: (Gr. axios, of like value, worthy, and logos, account, reason, theory). Modern term for theory of value (the desired, preferred, good), investigation of its nature, criteria, and metaphysical status. Had its rise in Plato's theory of Forms or Ideas (Idea of the Good); was developed in Aristotle's Organon, Ethics, Poetics, and Metaphysics (Book Lambda). Stoics and Epicureans investigated the summum bonum. Christian philosophy (St. Thomas) built on Aristotle's identification of highest value with final cause in God as "a living being, eternal, most good." In modern thought, apart from scholasticism and the system of Spinoza (Ethica, 1677), in which values are metaphysically grounded, the various values were investigated in separate sciences, until Kant's Critiques, in which the relations of knowledge to moral, aesthetic, and religious values were examined. In Hegel's idealism, morality, art, religion, and philosophy were made the capstone of his dialectic. R. H. Lotze "sought in that which should be the ground of that which is" (Metaphysik, 1879). Nineteenth century evolutionary theory, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and economics subjected value experience to empirical analysis, and stress was again laid on the diversity and relativity of value phenomena rather than on their unity and metaphysical nature. F. Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883-1885) and Zur Genealogie der Moral (1887) aroused new interest in the nature of value. F. Brentano, Vom Ursprung sittlicher Erkenntnis (1889), identified value with love. In the twentieth century the term axiology was apparently first applied by Paul Lapie (Logique de la volonte, 1902) and E. von Hartmann (Grundriss der Axiologie, 1908). Stimulated by Ehrenfels (System der Werttheorie, 1897), Meinong (Psychologisch-ethische Untersuchungen zur Werttheorie, 1894-1899), and Simmel (Philosophie des Geldes, 1900). W. M. Urban wrote the first systematic treatment of axiology in English (Valuation, 1909), phenomenological in method under J. M. Baldwin's influence. Meanwhile H. Münsterberg wrote a neo-Fichtean system of values (The Eternal Values, 1909). Among important recent contributions are: B. Bosanquet, The Principle of Individuality and Value (1912), a free reinterpretation of Hegelianism; W. R. Sorley, Moral Values and the Idea of God (1918, 1921), defending a metaphysical theism; S. Alexander, Space, Time, and Deity (1920), realistic and naturalistic; N. Hartmann, Ethik (1926), detailed analysis of types and laws of value; R. B. Perry's magnum opus, General Theory of Value (1926), "its meaning and basic principles construed in terms of interest"; and J. Laird, The Idea of Value (1929), noteworthy for historical exposition. A naturalistic theory has been developed by J. Dewey (Theory of Valuation, 1939), for which "not only is science itself a value . . . but it is the supreme means of the valid determination of all valuations." A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936) expounds the view of logical positivism that value is "nonsense." J. Hessen, Wertphilosophie (1937), provides an account of recent German axiology from a neo-scholastic standpoint. The problems of axiology fall into four main groups, namely, those concerning (1) the nature of value, (2) the types of value, (3) the criterion of value, and (4) the metaphysical status of value. (1) The nature of value experience. Is valuation fulfillment of desire (voluntarism: Spinoza, Ehrenfels), pleasure (hedonism: Epicurus, Bentham, Meinong), interest (Perry), preference (Martineau), pure rational will (formalism: Stoics, Kant, Royce), apprehension of tertiary qualities (Santayana), synoptic experience of the unity of personality (personalism: T. H. Green, Bowne), any experience that contributes to enhanced life (evolutionism: Nietzsche), or "the relation of things as means to the end or consequence actually reached" (pragmatism, instrumentalism: Dewey). (2) The types of value. Most axiologists distinguish between intrinsic (consummatory) values (ends), prized for their own sake, and instrumental (contributory) values (means), which are causes (whether as economic goods or as natural events) of intrinsic values. Most intrinsic values are also instrumental to further value experience; some instrumental values are neutral or even disvaluable intrinsically. Commonly recognized as intrinsic values are the (morally) good, the true, the beautiful, and the holy. Values of play, of work, of association, and of bodily well-being are also acknowledged. Some (with Montague) question whether the true is properly to be regarded as a value, since some truth is disvaluable, some neutral; but love of truth, regardless of consequences, seems to establish the value of truth. There is disagreement about whether the holy (religious value) is a unique type (Schleiermacher, Otto), or an attitude toward other values (Kant, Höffding), or a combination of the two (Hocking). There is also disagreement about whether the variety of values is irreducible (pluralism) or whether all values are rationally related in a hierarchy or system (Plato, Hegel, Sorley), in which values interpenetrate or coalesce into a total experience. (3) The criterion of value. The standard for testing values is influenced by both psychological and logical theory. Hedonists find the standard in the quantity of pleasure derived by the individual (Aristippus) or society (Bentham). Intuitionists appeal to an ultimate insight into preference (Martineau, Brentano). Some idealists recognize an objective system of rational norms or ideals as criterion (Plato, Windelband), while others lay more stress on rational wholeness and coherence (Hegel, Bosanquet, Paton) or inclusiveness (T. H. Green). Naturalists find biological survival or adjustment (Dewey) to be the standard. Despite differences, there is much in common in the results of the application of these criteria. (4) The metaphysical status of value. What is the relation of values to the facts investigated by natural science (Koehler), of Sein to Sollen (Lotze, Rickert), of human experience of value to reality independent of man (Hegel, Pringle-Pattlson, Spaulding)? There are three main answers: subjectivism (value is entirely dependent on and relative to human experience of it: so most hedonists, naturalists, positivists); logical objectivism (values are logical essences or subsistences, independent of their being known, yet with no existential status or action in reality); metaphysical objectivism (values --or norms or ideals --are integral, objective, and active constituents of the metaphysically real: so theists, absolutists, and certain realists and naturalists like S. Alexander and Wieman). --E.S.B. Axiom: See Mathematics. Axiomatic method: That method of constructing a deductive system consisting of deducing by specified rules all statements of the system save a given few from those given few, which are regarded as axioms or postulates of the system. See Mathematics. --C.A.B. Ayam atma brahma: (Skr.) "This self is brahman", famous quotation from Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 2.5.19, one of many alluding to the central theme of the Upanishads, i.e., the identity of the human and divine or cosmic. --K.F.L.
A vaguely defined deity symbolizing maternity, the fertility of the earth, and femininity in general; the central figure in the religions of ancient Anatolia, the Near East, and the eastern Mediterranean, later sometimes taking the form of a specific goddess.
a vaguely defined deity symbolizing maternity, the fertility of the earth, and femininity in general; the central figure in the religions of ancient Anatolia, the Near East, and the eastern Mediterranean, later sometimes taking the form of a specific goddess.
avyaktam anirdesyam ::: unmanifest, indefinable. [cf. Gita 12.3]
awe ::: n. --> Dread; great fear mingled with respect.
The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime; reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence. ::: v. t. --> To strike with fear and reverence; to inspire with awe; to
Background: (Ger. Hintergrund) In Husserl: The nexus of objects and objective sense explicitly posited along with any object; the objective horizon. The perceptual background is part of the entire background in this broad sense. See Horizon. -- D.C . Bacon, Francis: (1561-1626) Inspired by the Renaissance, and in revolt against Aristotelianism and Scholastic Logic, proposed an inductive method of discovering truth, founded upon empirical observation, analysis of observed data, inference resulting in hypotheses, and verification of hypotheses through continued observation and experiment. The impediments to the use of this method are preconceptions and prejudices, grouped by Bacon under four headings, or Idols: The Idols of the Tribe, or racially "wishful," anthropocentric ways of thinking, e.g. explanation by final causes The Idols of the Cave or personal prejudices The Idols of the Market Place, or failure to define terms The Idol of the Theatre, or blind acceptance of tradition and authority. The use of the inductive method prescribes the extraction of the essential from the non-essential and the discovery of the underlying structure or form of the phenomena under investigation, through (a) comparison of instances, (b) study of concomitant variations, and (c) exclusion of negative instances.
bar ::: n. --> A piece of wood, metal, or other material, long in proportion to its breadth or thickness, used as a lever and for various other purposes, but especially for a hindrance, obstruction, or fastening; as, the bars of a fence or gate; the bar of a door.
An indefinite quantity of some substance, so shaped as to be long in proportion to its breadth and thickness; as, a bar of gold or of lead; a bar of soap.
Anything which obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an
battalion ::: 1. An army unit typically consisting of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar subunits. 2. A large body of organized troops in battle gear. 3. A large indefinite number of persons or things.
definable ::: a. --> Capable of being defined, limited, or explained; determinable; describable by definition; ascertainable; as, definable limits; definable distinctions or regulations; definable words.
define ::: 1. To explain or identify the nature or essential qualities of; describe. 2. To make clear the outline or form of.
defined ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Define
definement ::: n. --> The act of defining; definition; description.
definer ::: n. --> One who defines or explains.
define ::: v. t. --> To fix the bounds of; to bring to a termination; to end.
To determine or clearly exhibit the boundaries of; to mark the limits of; as, to define the extent of a kingdom or country.
To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly; as, the defining power of an optical instrument.
To determine the precise signification of; to fix the meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or
defining experience"; this negation is "the affirmation by the Unknowable . . . of Its freedom from all cosmic existence, ::: freedom, that is to say, from all positive terms of actual existence which consciousness in the universe can formulate to itself", not denying these terms "as a real expression of Itself", but denying "Its limitation by all expression or any expression whatsoever".
defining ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Define
definite ::: a. --> Having certain or distinct; determinate in extent or greatness; limited; fixed; as, definite dimensions; a definite measure; a definite period or interval.
Having certain limits in signification; determinate; certain; precise; fixed; exact; clear; as, a definite word, term, or expression.
Determined; resolved.
Serving to define or restrict; limiting; determining; as,
definitely ::: adv. --> In a definite manner; with precision; precisely; determinately.
definiteness ::: n. --> The state of being definite; determinateness; precision; certainty.
definitional ::: a. --> Relating to definition; of the nature of a definition; employed in defining.
definition ::: n. --> The act of defining; determination of the limits; as, a telescope accurate in definition.
Act of ascertaining and explaining the signification; a description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term; as, the definition of "circle;" the definition of "wit;" an exact definition; a loose definition.
Description; sort.
An exact enunciation of the constituents which make up
definitive ::: a. --> Determinate; positive; final; conclusive; unconditional; express.
Limiting; determining; as, a definitive word.
Determined; resolved. ::: n. --> A word used to define or limit the extent of the
definitively ::: adv. --> In a definitive manner.
definitiveness ::: n. --> The quality of being definitive.
definitude ::: n. --> Definiteness.
be- ::: --> A prefix, originally the same word as by;
To intensify the meaning; as, bespatter, bestir.
To render an intransitive verb transitive; as, befall (to fall upon); bespeak (to speak for).
To make the action of a verb particular or definite; as, beget (to get as offspring); beset (to set around).
being in us for a definite end ; thirdly, liberation, that is to say, the release of our being from the narrow and painful knots of the individualised energy in a false . and limited play, which at present are the law of our nature. The enjoyment of our libera- ted being which brings us into um'ty or union with the Supreme, is the consummation ; it is ihat for which Yoga is done.
bhava ::: becoming; state of being (sometimes added to an adjective to bhava form an abstract noun and translatable by a suffix such as "-ness", as in br.hadbhava, the state of being br.hat [wide], i.e., wideness); condition of consciousness; subjectivity; state of mind and feeling; physical indication of a psychological state; content, meaning (of rūpa); spiritual experience, realisation; emotion, "moved spiritualised state of the affective nature"; (madhura bhava, etc.) any of several types of relation between the jiva and the isvara, each being a way in which "the transcendent and universal person of the Divine conforms itself to our individualised personality and accepts a personal relation with us, at once identified with us as our supreme Self and yet close and different as our Master, Friend, Lover, Teacher"; attitude; mood; temperament; aspect; internal manifestation of the Goddess (devi), in . her total divine Nature (daivi prakr.ti or devibhava) or in the "more seizable because more defined and limited temperament" of any of her aspects, as in Mahakali bhava; a similar manifestation of any personality or combination of personalities of the deva or fourfold isvara, as in Indrabhava or Aniruddha bhava; in the vision of Reality (brahmadarsana), any of the "many aspects of the Infinite" which "disclose themselves, separate, combine, fuse, are unified together" until "there shines through it all the supreme integral Reality"; especially, the various "states of perception" in which the divine personality (purus.a) is seen in the impersonality of the brahman, ranging from the "general personality" of sagun.a brahman to the "vivid personality" of Kr.s.n.akali. bh bhavasamrddhi
bion ::: p. pr. --> The physiological individual, characterized by definiteness and independence of function, in distinction from the morphological individual or morphon.
bittock ::: n. --> A small bit of anything, of indefinite size or quantity; a short distance.
blastula ::: n. --> That stage in the development of the ovum in which the outer cells of the morula become more defined and form the blastoderm.
bliss ::: perfect happiness; serene joy or ecstasy. (See delight for Sri Aurobindo"s definitions.) **self-bliss, World-Bliss.
Body: Here taken in the sense of the material organized substance of man contrasted with the mind, soul or spirit, thus leading to the problem of the relation between body and mind, one of the most persistent problems of philosophy. Of course, any theory which identifies body and mind, or does not adequately distinguish the psychical from the physical, regarding both as aspects of the same reality, eludes some of the difficulties presented by the problem. Both materialism and idealism may be considered as forms of psycho-physical monism. Materialism by denying the real existence of spiritual beings and reducing mind to a function of matter, and spiritualism, or that species called idealism, which regards bodies simply as contents of consciousness, really evade the main issue. All those, however, who frankly acknowledge the empirically given duality of mind and organism, are obliged to struggle with the problem of the relation between them. The two most noted rival theories attempting an answer are interactionism and parallelism. The first considers both body and mind as substantial beings, influencing each other, hence causally related. The second holds that physical processes and mental processes accompany each other without any interaction or interference whatsoever, consequently they cannot be causally related. The Scholastics advance the doctrine of the human composite consisting of body and soul united into one substance and nature, constituting the human person or self, to whom all actions of which man is capable must be ascribed. There can be no interaction, since there is but one agent, formed of two component elements. This theory, like interactionism, makes provision for survival, even immortality, while parallelism definitely precludes it. No known theory can meet all objections and prove entirely satisfactory; the problem still persists. See Descartes, Spinoza, Mind. -- J.J.R.
bovate ::: n. --> An oxgang, or as much land as an ox can plow in a year; an ancient measure of land, of indefinite quantity, but usually estimated at fifteen acres.
brahmaloka ::: world of the brahman, in which the soul is one with the infinite existence and yet in a sense still a soul able to enjoy differentiation in the oneness; the highest state of pure existence, consciousness and beatitude attainable by the soul without complete extinction in the Indefinable.
Brahman or of the Self docs not usually come at the beginning of a sadhana or in the first years or for many years. It comes so to a very few. Most would say that a slow development is the best one can hope for in the first years and only when the nature is ready and fully concentrated towards the Divine can the definitive experience come. To some rapid prepdhitory experiences can come at a comparatively early stage, but even they cannot escape the labour of the consciousness which will make these experiences culminate in the realisation that is enduring and complete. It is not a question of liking or disliking, it is a matter of fact and truth and experience. It is the fact that people who arc cheerful and ready to go step by step, even by slow steps if need be, do actually march faster and more surely than those who are impatient and in haste.
breeds ::: a group of organisms within a species, esp. a group of domestic animals, originated and maintained by man and having a clearly defined set of characteristics.
Brentano, Franz: (1838-1917) Who had originally been a Roman Catholic priest may be described as an unorthodox neo-scholastic. According to him the only three forms of psychic activity, representation, judgment and "phenomena of love and hate", are just three modes of "intentionality", i.e., of referring to an object intended. Judgments may be self-evident and thereby characterized as true and in an analogous way love and hate may be characterized as "right". It is on these characterizations that a dogmatic theory of truth and value may be based. In any mental experience the content is merely a "physical phenomenon" (real or imaginary) intended to be referred to, what is psychic is merely the "act" of representing, judging (viz. affirming or denying) and valuing (i.e. loving or hating). Since such "acts" are evidently immaterial, the soul by which they are performed may be proved to be a purely spiritual and imperishable substance and from these and other considerations the existence, spirituality, as also the infinite wisdom, goodness and justice of God may also be demonstrated. It is most of all by his classification of psychic phenomena, his psychology of "acts" and "intentions" and by his doctrine concerning self-evident truths and values that Brentano, who considered himself an Aristotelian, exercised a profound influence on subsequent German philosophers: not only on those who accepted his entire system (such as A. Marty and C. Stumpf) but also those who were somewhat more independent and original and whom he influenced either directly (as A. Meinong and E. Husserl) or indirectly (as M. Scheler and Nik. Hartmann). Main works: Psychologie des Aristoteles, 1867; Vom Dasein Gottes, 1868; Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt, 1874; Vom Ursprung sittliches Erkenntnis, 1884; Ueber die Zukunft der Philosophie, 1893; Die vier Phasen der Philos., 1895. -- H.Go. Broad, C.D.: (1887) As a realistic critical thinker Broad takes over from the sciences the methods that are fruitful there, classifies the various propositions used in all the sciences, and defines basic scientific concepts. In going beyond science, he seeks to reach a total view of the world by bringing in the facts and principles of aesthetic, religious, ethical and political experience. In trying to work out a much more general method which attacks the problem of the connection between mathematical concepts and sense-data better than the method of analysis in situ, he gives a simple exposition of the method of extensive abstraction, which applies the mutual relations of objects, first recognized in pure mathematics, to physics. Moreover, a great deal can be learned from Broad on the relation of the principle of relativity to measurement.
brother ::: n. --> A male person who has the same father and mother with another person, or who has one of them only. In the latter case he is more definitely called a half brother, or brother of the half blood.
One related or closely united to another by some common tie or interest, as of rank, profession, membership in a society, toil, suffering, etc.; -- used among judges, clergymen, monks, physicians, lawyers, professors of religion, etc.
One who, or that which, resembles another in distinctive
bushel ::: n. --> A dry measure, containing four pecks, eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts.
A vessel of the capacity of a bushel, used in measuring; a bushel measure.
A quantity that fills a bushel measure; as, a heap containing ten bushels of apples.
A large indefinite quantity.
The iron lining in the nave of a wheel. [Eng.] In the
Calculus: The name calculus may be applied to any organized method of solving problems or drawing inferences by manipulation of symbols according to formal rules. Or an exact definition of a calculus may be provided by identifying it with a logistic system, (q.v.) satisfying the requirement of effectiveness.
Canon: (Gr. kanon, rule) A term reminiscent of the arts and crafts, sometimes applied, since Epicurus who replaced the ancient dialectics by a canonics (kanonike), to any norm or rule which the logical process obeys. Thus John Stuart Mill speaks of five experimental methods as being regulated by certain canons. Kant defined canon as the sum total of all principles a priori of the correct use of our powers of knowledge. See Baconian method, Mill's methods. -- K.F.L.
Cardinal number: Two classes are equivalent if there exists a one-to-one correspondence between them (see One-one). Cardinal numbers are obtained by abstraction (q. v.) with respect to equivalence, so that two classes have the same cardinal number if and only if they are equivalent. This may be formulated more exactly, following Frege, by defining the cardinal number of a class to be the class of classes equivalent to it.
casual ::: 1. Occurring by chance; accidental. 2. Occurring offhand; not premeditated. 3. Occurring at irregular or infrequent intervals; occasional. 4. Without definite or serious intention; careless or offhand; passing.
Category of Unity: Kant: The first of three a priori, quantitative (so-called "mathematical") categories (the others being "plurality" and "totality") from which is derived the synthetic principle, "All intuitions (appearances) are extensive magnitudes." By means of this principle Kant seeks to define the object of experience a priori with reference to its spatial features. See Crit. of pure Reason, B106, B202ff. -- O.F.K Catharsis: (Gr. katharsis) Purification; purgation; specifically the purging of the emotions of pity and fear effected by tragedy (Aristotle). -- G.R.M.
Causa sui: Cause of itself; necessary existence. Causa sui conveys both a negative and a positive meaning. Negatively, it signifies that which is from itself (a se), that which does not owe its being to something else; i.e., absolute independence of being, causelessness (God as uncaused). Positively, causa sui means that whose very nature or essence involves existence; i.e., God is the ground of his own being, and regarded as "cause" of his own being, he is, as it were, efficient cause of his own existence (Descartes). Since existence necessarily follows from the very essence of that which is cause of itself, causa sui is defined as that whose nature cannot be conceived as not existing (Spinoza). -- A.G.A.B. Causality: (Lat. causa) The relationship between a cause and its effect. This relationship has been defined as a relation between events, processes, or entities in the same time series, such that when one occurs, the other necessarily follows (sufficient condition), when the latter occurs, the former must have preceded (necessary condition), both conditions a and b prevail (necessary and sufficient condition), when one occurs under certain conditions, the other necessarily follows (contributory, but not sufficient, condition) ("multiple causality" would be a case involving several causes which are severally contributory and jointly sufficient); the necessity in these cases is neither that of logical implication nor that of coercion; a relation between events, processes, or entities in the same time series such that when one occurs the other invariably follows (invariable antecedence), a relation between events, processes, or entities such that one has the efficacy to produce or alter the other; a relation between events, processes, or entities such that without one the other could not occur, as in the relation between the material out of which a product is made and the finished product (material cause), structure or form and the individual embodying it (formal cause), a goal or purpose (whether supposed to exist in the future as a special kind of entity, outside a time series, or merely as an idea of the pur-poser) and the work fulfilling it (final cause), a moving force and the process or result of its action (efficient cause); a relation between experienced events, processes, or entities and extra-experiential but either temporal or non-temporal events, processes, or entities upon whose existence the former depend; a relation between a thing and itself when it is dependent upon nothing else for its existence (self-causality); a relation between an event, process, or entity and the reason or explanation for its being; a relation between an idea and an experience whose expectation the idea arouses because of customary association of the two in this sequence; a principle or category introducing into experience one of the aforesaid types of order; this principle may be inherent in the mind, invented by the mind, or derived from experience; it may be an explanatory hypothesis, a postulate, a convenient fiction, or a necessary form of thought. Causality has been conceived to prevail between processes, parts of a continuous process, changing parts of an unchanging whole, objects, events, ideas, or something of one of these types and something of another. When an entity, event, or process is said to follow from another, it may be meant that it must succeed but can be neither contemporaneous with nor prior to the other, that it must either succeed or be contemporaneous with and dependent upon but cannot precede the other, or that one is dependent upon the other but they either are not in the same time series or one is in no time series at all.
certain ::: a. --> Assured in mind; having no doubts; free from suspicions concerning.
Determined; resolved; -- used with an infinitive.
Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
Unfailing; infallible.
Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or
Characterology: This name originally was used for types; thus in Aristotle and Theophrastus, and even much later, e.g. in La Bruyere. Gradually it came to signify something individual; a development paralleled by the replacement of "typical" figures on the stage by individualities. There is no agreement, even today, on the definition; confusion reigns especially because of an insufficient distinction between character, personality, and person. But all agree that character manifests itself in the behavior of a person. One can distinguish a merely descriptive approach, one of classification, and one of interpretation. The general viewpoints of interpretation influence also description and classification, since they determine what is considered "important" and lay down the rules by which to distinguish and to classify. One narrow interpretation looks at character mainly as the result of inborn properties, rooted in organic constitution; character is considered, therefore, as essentially unchangeable and predetermined. The attempts at establishing correlations between character and body-build (Kretschmer a.o.) are a special form of such narrow interpretation. It makes but little difference if, besides inborn properties, the influence of environmental factors is acknowledged. The rationalistic interpretation looks at character mainly as the result of convictions. These convictions are seen as purely intellectual in extreme rationalism (virtue is knowledge, Socrates), or as referring to the value-aspect of reality which is conceived as apprehended by other than merely intellectual operations. Thus, Spranger gives a classification according to the "central values" dominating a man's behavior. (Allport has devised practical methods of character study on this basis.) Since the idea a person has of values and their order may change, character is conceived as essentially mutable, even if far going changes may be unfrequent. Character-education is the practical application of the principles of characterology and thus depends on the general idea an author holds in regard to human nature. Character is probably best defined as the individual's way of preferring or rejecting values. It depends on the innate capacities of value-apprehension and on the way these values are presented to the individual. Therefore the enormous influence of social factors. -- R.A.
charter ::: n. --> A written evidence in due form of things done or granted, contracts made, etc., between man and man; a deed, or conveyance.
An instrument in writing, from the sovereign power of a state or country, executed in due form, bestowing rights, franchises, or privileges.
An act of a legislative body creating a municipal or other corporation and defining its powers and privileges. Also, an instrument in writing from the constituted authorities of an order or society (as
christian ::: n. --> One who believes, or professes or is assumed to believe, in Jesus Christ, and the truth as taught by Him; especially, one whose inward and outward life is conformed to the doctrines of Christ.
One born in a Christian country or of Christian parents, and who has not definitely becomes an adherent of an opposing system.
One of a Christian denomination which rejects human creeds as bases of fellowship, and sectarian names. They are congregational in church government, and baptize by immersion. They are
cittakasa (chittakasha; chittakash) ::: the ether (akasa) of the citta cittakasa or basic mental consciousness, a mental akasa defined as the "ether of the pranic manas", whose contents are experienced especially in antardarsi jagrat and svapnasamadhi.
cleavage ::: n. --> The act of cleaving or splitting.
The quality possessed by many crystallized substances of splitting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting.
Division into laminae, like slate, with the lamination not necessarily parallel to the plane of deposition; -- usually
clip ::: v. t. --> To embrace, hence; to encompass.
To cut off; as with shears or scissors; as, to clip the hair; to clip coin.
To curtail; to cut short. ::: v. i. --> To move swiftly; -- usually with indefinite it.
Cogitatio: One of the two attributes (q.v.) of God which, according to Spinoza, are accessible to the human intellect (Ethica, II, passim) Though God is an infinite thinking thing, it is not possible so to define him; God is "substance consisting of infinite attributes, etc." (Ibid, I, Def. 6), and is thus beyond the grasp of the human mind which can know only thought and extension (extensio, q.v.). -- W.S.W.
colorless ::: a. --> Without color; not distinguished by any hue; transparent; as, colorless water.
Free from any manifestation of partial or peculiar sentiment or feeling; not disclosing likes, dislikes, prejudice, etc.; as, colorless music; a colorless style; definitions should be colorless.
COLOURS. ::: When the colours begin to lake definite shapes in the visions, it is a sign of some dynamic work of formation in the consciousness. The waves of colour mean a dynamic rush of forces.
combination ::: n. --> The act or process of combining or uniting persons and things.
The result of combining or uniting; union of persons or things; esp. a union or alliance of persons or states to effect some purpose; -- usually in a bad sense.
The act or process of uniting by chemical affinity, by which substances unite with each other in definite proportions by weight to form distinct compounds.
compound ::: n. --> In the East Indies, an inclosure containing a house, outbuildings, etc.
That which is compounded or formed by the union or mixture of elements ingredients, or parts; a combination of simples; a compound word; the result of composition.
A union of two or more ingredients in definite proportions by weight, so combined as to form a distinct substance; as, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen.
condensation ::: n. --> The act or process of condensing or of being condensed; the state of being condensed.
The act or process of reducing, by depression of temperature or increase of pressure, etc., to another and denser form, as gas to the condition of a liquid or steam to water.
A rearrangement or concentration of the different constituents of one or more substances into a distinct and definite compound of greater complexity and molecular weight, often resulting in
confirm ::: 1. To make valid or binding by a formal or legal act; ratify. 2. To support or establish the certainty, or validity of; verify. 3. To reaffirm (something), so as to make (it) more definite. confirmed.
connection ::: n. --> The act of connecting, or the state of being connected; junction; union; alliance; relationship.
That which connects or joins together; bond; tie.
A relation; esp. a person connected with another by marriage rather than by blood; -- used in a loose and indefinite, and sometimes a comprehensive, sense.
The persons or things that are connected; as, a business connection; the Methodist connection.
conspicuous ::: a. --> Open to the view; obvious to the eye; easy to be seen; plainly visible; manifest; attracting the eye.
Obvious to the mental eye; easily recognized; clearly defined; notable; prominent; eminent; distinguished; as, a conspicuous excellence, or fault.
contours ::: outlines of figures or bodies, edges or lines that define or bound shapes, objects or forms.
crease ::: n. --> See Creese.
A line or mark made by folding or doubling any pliable substance; hence, a similar mark, however produced.
One of the lines serving to define the limits of the bowler and the striker. ::: v. t.
creed ::: v. t. --> A definite summary of what is believed; esp., a summary of the articles of Christian faith; a confession of faith for public use; esp., one which is brief and comprehensive.
Any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to.
To believe; to credit.
crescent ::: n. --> The increasing moon; the moon in her first quarter, or when defined by a concave and a convex edge; also, applied improperly to the old or decreasing moon in a like state.
Anything having the shape of a crescent or new moon.
A representation of the increasing moon, often used as an emblem or badge
A symbol of Artemis, or Diana.
The ancient symbol of Byzantium or Constantinople.
crystallite ::: n. --> A minute mineral form like those common in glassy volcanic rocks and some slags, not having a definite crystalline outline and not referable to any mineral species, but marking the first step in the crystallization process. According to their form crystallites are called trichites, belonites, globulites, etc.
deal ::: n. --> A part or portion; a share; hence, an indefinite quantity, degree, or extent, degree, or extent; as, a deal of time and trouble; a deal of cold.
The process of dealing cards to the players; also, the portion disturbed.
Distribution; apportionment.
An arrangement to attain a desired result by a combination of interested parties; -- applied to stock speculations and political
decide ::: v. t. --> To cut off; to separate.
To bring to a termination, as a question, controversy, struggle, by giving the victory to one side or party; to render judgment concerning; to determine; to settle. ::: v. i. --> To determine; to form a definite opinion; to come to a
decimosexto ::: n. --> A book consisting of sheets, each of which is folded into sixteen leaves; hence, indicating, more or less definitely, a size of book; -- usually written 16mo or 16¡. ::: a. --> Having sixteen leaves to a sheet; as, a decimosexto form, book, leaf, size.
decretorily ::: adv. --> In a decretory or definitive manner; by decree.
decretory ::: a. --> Established by a decree; definitive; settled.
Serving to determine; critical.
Definitions by Disciples
Definitions by Sri Aurobindo and Mother
dehiscence ::: n. --> The act of gaping.
A gaping or bursting open along a definite line of attachment or suture, without tearing, as in the opening of pods, or the bursting of capsules at maturity so as to emit seeds, etc.; also, the bursting open of follicles, as in the ovaries of animals, for the expulsion of their contents.
dehiscent ::: a. --> Characterized by dehiscence; opening in some definite way, as the capsule of a plant.
deictically ::: adv. --> In a manner to show or point out; directly; absolutely; definitely.
determinable ::: v. t. --> Capable of being determined, definitely ascertained, decided upon, or brought to a conclusion.
determinate ::: a. --> Having defined limits; not uncertain or arbitrary; fixed; established; definite.
Conclusive; decisive; positive.
Determined or resolved upon.
Of determined purpose; resolute. ::: v. t.
determinately ::: adv. --> In a determinate manner; definitely; ascertainably.
Resolutely; unchangeably.
determination ::: n. --> The act of determining, or the state of being determined.
Bringing to an end; termination; limit.
Direction or tendency to a certain end; impulsion.
The quality of mind which reaches definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness.
The state of decision; a judicial decision, or ending of controversy.
deuterogamy ::: n. --> A second marriage, after the death of the first husband of wife; -- in distinction from bigamy, as defined in the old canon law. See Bigamy.
devious ::: 1. Deviating from the straight or direct course; roundabout. 2. Without definite course; vagrant. 3. Not straightforward; shifty or crooked.
Dictionary.com gives us these definitions.
differentiation ::: n. --> The act of differentiating.
The act of distinguishing or describing a thing, by giving its different, or specific difference; exact definition or determination.
The gradual formation or production of organs or parts by a process of evolution or development, as when the seed develops the root and the stem, the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds; or in animal life, when the germ evolves the
diffine ::: v. t. --> To define.
diffinitive ::: a. --> Definitive; determinate; final.
diorism ::: n. --> Definition; logical direction.
dioristic ::: a. --> Distinguishing; distinctive; defining.
distinct ::: a. --> Distinguished; having the difference marked; separated by a visible sign; marked out; specified.
Marked; variegated.
Separate in place; not conjunct; not united by growth or otherwise; -- with from.
Not identical; different; individual.
So separated as not to be confounded with any other thing; not liable to be misunderstood; not confused; well-defined;
distinction ::: n. --> A marking off by visible signs; separation into parts; division.
The act of distinguishing or denoting the differences between objects, or the qualities by which one is known from others; exercise of discernment; discrimination.
That which distinguishes one thing from another; distinguishing quality; sharply defined difference; as, the distinction between real and apparent good.
distinguish ::: v. t. --> Not set apart from others by visible marks; to make distinctive or discernible by exhibiting differences; to mark off by some characteristic.
To separate by definition of terms or logical division of a subject with regard to difference; as, to distinguish sounds into high and low.
To recognize or discern by marks, signs, or characteristic quality or qualities; to know and discriminate
district ::: a. --> Rigorous; stringent; harsh. ::: n. --> The territory within which the lord has the power of coercing and punishing.
A division of territory; a defined portion of a state, town, or city, etc., made for administrative, electoral, or other
Divergent Thinking ::: The ability to use previously gained information to debate or discuss issues which have no agreed upon definitive resolution.
dogma ::: n. --> That which is held as an opinion; a tenet; a doctrine.
A formally stated and authoritatively settled doctrine; a definite, established, and authoritative tenet.
A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum.
doubtful ::: a. --> Not settled in opinion; undetermined; wavering; hesitating in belief; also used, metaphorically, of the body when its action is affected by such a state of mind; as, we are doubtful of a fact, or of the propriety of a measure.
Admitting of doubt; not obvious, clear, or certain; questionable; not decided; not easy to be defined, classed, or named; as, a doubtful case, hue, claim, title, species, and the like.
Characterized by ambiguity; dubious; as, a doubtful
doubtfulness ::: n. --> State of being doubtful.
Uncertainty of meaning; ambiguity; indefiniteness.
Uncertainty of event or issue.
dozen ::: pl. --> of Dozen ::: n. --> A collection of twelve objects; a tale or set of twelve; with or without of before the substantive which follows.
An indefinite small number.
draw ::: 1. To cause to move in a given direction or to a given position, as by leading. 2. To bring towards oneself or itself, as by inherent force or influence; attract. 3. To cause to come by attracting; attract. 4. To cause to move in a particular direction by or as by a pulling force; pull; drag. 5. To get, take or obtain as from a source; to derive. 6. To bring, take, or pull out, as from a receptacle or source. 7. To draw a (or the) line (fig.) to determine or define the limit between two things or groups; in modern colloquial use (esp. with at), to lay down a definite limit of action beyond which one refuses to go. 8. To make, sketch (a picture or representation of someone or something) in lines or words; to design, trace out, delineate; depict; also, to mould, model. 9. To mark or lay out; trace. 10. To compose or write out in legal format. 11. To write out (a bill of exchange or promissory note). 12. To disembowel. 13. To move or pull so as to cover or uncover something. 14. To suck or take in (air, for example); inhale. 15. To extend, lengthen, prolong, protract. 16. To cause to move after or toward one by applying continuous force; drag. draws, drew, drawn, drawing, wide-drawn.
duodecimo ::: a. --> Having twelve leaves to a sheet; as, a duodecimo from, book, leaf, size, etc. ::: n. --> A book consisting of sheets each of which is folded into twelve leaves; hence, indicating, more or less definitely, a size of a book; -- usually written 12mo or 12¡.
east ::: n. --> The point in the heavens where the sun is seen to rise at the equinox, or the corresponding point on the earth; that one of the four cardinal points of the compass which is in a direction at right angles to that of north and south, and which is toward the right hand of one who faces the north; the point directly opposite to the west.
The eastern parts of the earth; the regions or countries which lie east of Europe; the orient. In this indefinite sense, the word is applied to Asia Minor, Syria, Chaldea, Persia, India, China,
edgy ::: a. --> Easily irritated; sharp; as, an edgy temper.
Having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined.
electrophorus ::: n. --> An instrument for exciting electricity, and repeating the charge indefinitely by induction, consisting of a flat cake of resin, shelllac, or ebonite, upon which is placed a plate of metal.
elixir ::: n. --> A tincture with more than one base; a compound tincture or medicine, composed of various substances, held in solution by alcohol in some form.
An imaginary liquor capable of transmuting metals into gold; also, one for producing life indefinitely; as, elixir vitae, or the elixir of life.
The refined spirit; the quintessence.
Any cordial or substance which invigorates.
elsewhere ::: adv. --> In any other place; as, these trees are not to be found elsewhere.
In some other place; in other places, indefinitely; as, it is reported in town and elsewhere.
elusive ::: 1. Eluding clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define. 2. Cleverly or skilfully evasive.
enerlasting ::: n. --> Eternal duration, past of future; eternity.
(With the definite article) The Eternal Being; God.
A plant whose flowers may be dried without losing their form or color, as the pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), the immortelle of the French, the cudweeds, etc.
A cloth fabic for shoes, etc. See Lasting.
equivalence ::: n. --> The condition of being equivalent or equal; equality of worth, value, signification, or force; as, an equivalence of definitions.
Equal power or force; equivalent amount.
The quantity of the combining power of an atom, expressed in hydrogen units; the number of hydrogen atoms can combine with, or be exchanged for; valency. See Valence.
The degree of combining power as determined by
essence ::: “Essence can never be defined—it simply is.” Letters on Yoga
essence ::: n. --> The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence.
The constituent quality or qualities which belong to any object, or class of objects, or on which they depend for being what they are (distinguished as real essence); the real being, divested of all logical accidents; that quality which constitutes or marks the true nature of anything; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality of
eudaemonism ::: n. --> That system of ethics which defines and enforces moral obligation by its relation to happiness or personal well-being.
evangelist ::: n. --> A bringer of the glad tidings of Church and his doctrines. Specially: (a) A missionary preacher sent forth to prepare the way for a resident pastor; an itinerant missionary preacher. (b) A writer of one of the four Gospels (With the definite article); as, the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. (c) A traveling preacher whose efforts are chiefly directed to arouse to immediate repentance.
everlasting ::: a. --> Lasting or enduring forever; exsisting or continuing without end; immoral; eternal.
Continuing indefinitely, or during a long period; perpetual; sometimes used, colloquially, as a strong intensive; as, this everlasting nonsence.
everlastingness ::: n. --> The state of being everlasting; endless duration; indefinite duration.
evermore ::: adv. --> During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
every ::: a. & a. pron. --> All the parts which compose a whole collection or aggregate number, considered in their individuality, all taken separately one by one, out of an indefinite bumber.
Every one. Cf.
exact ::: a. --> Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect; true; correct; precise; as, the clock keeps exact time; he paid the exact debt; an exact copy of a letter; exact accounts.
Habitually careful to agree with a standard, a rule, or a promise; accurate; methodical; punctual; as, a man exact in observing an appointment; in my doings I was exact.
Precisely or definitely conceived or stated; strict.
explained ::: 1. Made plain or comprehensible. 2. Defined; interpreted; expounded. 3. Make known in detail. explains.
explanation ::: n. --> The act of explaining, expounding, or interpreting; the act of clearing from obscurity and making intelligible; as, the explanation of a passage in Scripture, or of a contract or treaty.
That which explains or makes clear; as, a satisfactory explanation.
The meaning attributed to anything by one who explains it; definition; interpretation; sense.
A mutual exposition of terms, meaning, or motives,
expressness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being express; definiteness.
figurate ::: a. --> Of a definite form or figure.
Figurative; metaphorical.
Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant.
finative ::: a. --> Conclusive; decisive; definitive; final.
firm ::: 1. Resistant to externally applied pressure. 2. Not subject to change; fixed and definite.; not likely to change. 3. Securely fixed in place. 4. Steadfast and determined. 5. Indicating firmness and steadfastness. 6. Definitely established; decided; settled. firm-based.
"First, we affirm an Absolute as the origin and support and secret Reality of all things. The Absolute Reality is indefinable and ineffable by mental thought and mental language; it is self-existent and self-evident to itself, as all absolutes are self-evident, but our mental affirmatives and negatives, whether taken separatively or together, cannot limit or define it.” The Life Divine
“First, we affirm an Absolute as the origin and support and secret Reality of all things. The Absolute Reality is indefinable and ineffable by mental thought and mental language; it is self-existent and self-evident to itself, as all absolutes are self-evident, but our mental affirmatives and negatives, whether taken separatively or together, cannot limit or define it.” The Life Divine
fix ::: 1. To set or place firmly or definitely; establish. 2. Also refl. To direct one"s efforts or attention; concentrate. 3.* *To give a permanent or final form to. 4. To settle definitely; decide. fixes, fixed, fixing.**
fix ::: a. --> Fixed; solidified. ::: v. t. --> To make firm, stable, or fast; to set or place permanently; to fasten immovably; to establish; to implant; to secure; to make definite.
To hold steadily; to direct unwaveringly; to fasten, as the
fixed ::: 1. Securely placed or fastened or set. 2. Set or intent upon something; steadily directed (as of a person"s eyes, mind, etc.). 3. Definitely and permanently placed. 4. Not fluctuating or varying; definite. 5. Coming each year on the same calendar date. 6. Assigned to a definite place, time, etc.
formerly ::: adv. --> In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
formless ::: having no definite form; shapeless. Also fig. Formless (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as a n.), formlessness, formlessly.
formulate ::: v. t. --> To reduce to, or express in, a formula; to put in a clear and definite form of statement or expression.
::: "For the impersonal Divine is not ultimately an abstraction or a mere principle or a mere state or power and degree of being any more than we ourselves are really such abstractions. The intellect first approaches it through such conceptions, but realisation ends by exceeding them. Through the realisation of higher and higher principles of being and states of conscious existence we arrive not at the annullation of all in a sort of positive zero or even an inexpressible state of existence, but at the transcendent Existence itself which is also the Existent who transcends all definition by personality and yet is always that which is the essence of personality.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
“For the impersonal Divine is not ultimately an abstraction or a mere principle or a mere state or power and degree of being any more than we ourselves are really such abstractions. The intellect first approaches it through such conceptions, but realisation ends by exceeding them. Through the realisation of higher and higher principles of being and states of conscious existence we arrive not at the annullation of all in a sort of positive zero or even an inexpressible state of existence, but at the transcendent Existence itself which is also the Existent who transcends all definition by personality and yet is always that which is the essence of personality.” The Synthesis of Yoga
fraction ::: n. --> The act of breaking, or state of being broken, especially by violence.
A portion; a fragment.
One or more aliquot parts of a unit or whole number; an expression for a definite portion of a unit or magnitude. ::: v. t.
gallivant ::: v. i. --> To play the beau; to wait upon the ladies; also, to roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.
gas ::: 1. A substance in the gaseous state. 2. Physics. A substance possessing perfect molecular mobility and the property of indefinite expansion, as opposed to a solid or liquid.
general ::: a. --> Relating to a genus or kind; pertaining to a whole class or order; as, a general law of animal or vegetable economy.
Comprehending many species or individuals; not special or particular; including all particulars; as, a general inference or conclusion.
Not restrained or limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.
Genital Stage ::: Freud&
genus ::: n. --> A class of objects divided into several subordinate species; a class more extensive than a species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class; one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms.
An assemblage of species, having so many fundamental points of structure in common, that in the judgment of competent scientists, they may receive a common substantive name. A genus is not necessarily the lowest definable group of species, for it may often be divided into
Given a formula A containing a free variable, say x, the process of forming a corresponding monadic function (q.v.) -- defined by the rule that the value of the function for an argument b is that which A denotes if the variable x is taken as denoting b -- is also called abstraction, or functional abstraction. In this sense, abstraction is an operation upon a formula A yielding a function, and is relative to a particular system of interpretation for the notations appearing in the formula, and to a particular variable, as x. The requirement that A shall contain x as a free variable is not essential: when A does not contain x as a free variable, the function obtained by abstraction relative to x may be taken to be the function whose value, the same for all arguments, is denoted by A.
glassologist ::: n. --> One who defines and explains terms; one who is versed in glossology.
glide ::: n. --> The glede or kite.
The act or manner of moving smoothly, swiftly, and without labor or obstruction.
A transitional sound in speech which is produced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other
globe ::: n. --> A round or spherical body, solid or hollow; a body whose surface is in every part equidistant from the center; a ball; a sphere.
Anything which is nearly spherical or globular in shape; as, the globe of the eye; the globe of a lamp.
The earth; the terraqueous ball; -- usually preceded by the definite article.
A round model of the world; a spherical representation of the earth or heavens; as, a terrestrial or celestial globe; -- called
glossary ::: a list of terms in a special subject, field, or area of usage, with accompanying definitions; a partial dictionary.
glossology ::: n. --> The definition and explanation of terms; a glossary.
The science of language; comparative philology; linguistics; glottology.
gnosis ::: "a power above mind working in its own law, out of the direct identity of the supreme Self", a faculty superior to buddhi or intellect, possessing not only the "concentrated consciousness of the infinite Essence", but "also and at the same time an infinite knowledge of the myriad play of the Infinite"; (in 1919-20) the supra-intellectual consciousness (also called ideality or vijñana) with its three planes of logistic, hermetic and seer gnosis, each successive level being more "intense and large in light, imperative, instantaneous, the scope of the active knowledge larger, the way nearer to the knowledge by identity, the thought more packed with the luminous substance of self-awareness and all-vision"; (in most of 1927 before 29 October) a plane of consciousness usually referred to as above the supreme ...64 supermind and descending into it to form supreme supermind gnosis, also rising to the "invincible Gnosis of the Divine"; (in April 1927) a term encompassing three degrees of supramental gnosis (corresponding to planes later redefined as parts of the overmind system) and a fourth degree of divine gnosis; (from 29 October 1927 onwards) equivalent to "divine gnosis", a grade of consciousness above overmind (but sometimes distinguished from supermind, which occupies a similar position) and descending into it to form gnostic overmind or gnosis in overmind.
graduate ::: n. --> To mark with degrees; to divide into regular steps, grades, or intervals, as the scale of a thermometer, a scheme of punishment or rewards, etc.
To admit or elevate to a certain grade or degree; esp., in a college or university, to admit, at the close of the course, to an honorable standing defined by a diploma; as, he was graduated at Yale College.
To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by
ground ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Grind ::: n. --> The surface of the earth; the outer crust of the globe, or some indefinite portion of it.
A floor or pavement supposed to rest upon the earth.
Any definite portion of the earth&
half ::: a. --> Consisting of a moiety, or half; as, a half bushel; a half hour; a half dollar; a half view.
Consisting of some indefinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect; as, a half dream; half knowledge.
Part; side; behalf.
One of two equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided; -- sometimes followed by of; as, a half of an
half-ray ::: n. --> A straight line considered as drawn from a center to an indefinite distance in one direction, the complete ray being the whole line drawn to an indefinite distance in both directions.
heap ::: A random pile, such as a mound of sand or a trash dump. Heaps have no defining pattern and do not follow the twenty tenets (although they are made up of holons that do).
helter-skelter ::: adv. --> In hurry and confusion; without definite purpose; irregularly.
he ::: obj. --> The man or male being (or object personified to which the masculine gender is assigned), previously designated; a pronoun of the masculine gender, usually referring to a specified subject already indicated.
Any one; the man or person; -- used indefinitely, and usually followed by a relative pronoun.
Man; a male; any male person; -- in this sense used substantively.
Here is a formal definition:
hermeneutics ::: n. --> The science of interpretation and explanation; exegesis; esp., that branch of theology which defines the laws whereby the meaning of the Scriptures is to be ascertained.
higher mind ::: (c. 1931, in the diagram on page 1360) a plane of consciousness with three levels: "liberated intelligence", "intuitive [higher mind]" and "illumined [higher mind]" (in ascending order). The first level may correspond to vijñanabuddhi in the earlier terminology of the Record of Yoga. The "intuitive" and "illumined" levels may be what Sri Aurobindo soon after making the diagram began to refer to as "higher mind" (defined as "a luminous thought-mind, a mind of spiritborn conceptual knowledge") and "illumined mind" (characterised by "an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the spirit"); cf. logistic ideality (also called luminous reason) and hermetic ideality or srauta vijñana (distinguished by "a diviner splendour of light and blaze of fiery effulgence") in the terminology of 1919-20.
highest representative ideality ::: in October 1920, equivalent to logos vijñana in the sense of full revelatory ideality; also called representative vijñana, which is said to have three elements: representative, interpretative and imperative. The meaning of "representative" earlier . 68 in 1920, when it referred to the highest intuitive revelatory logistis, was preserved at this time in the definition of logos reason as the "lower representative idea".
hogshead ::: n. --> An English measure of capacity, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52/ imperial gallons; a half pipe.
A large cask or barrel, of indefinite contents; esp. one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.
homaloidal ::: a. --> Flat; even; -- a term applied to surfaces and to spaces, whether real or imagined, in which the definitions, axioms, and postulates of Euclid respecting parallel straight lines are assumed to hold true.
hoppestere ::: a. --> An unexplained epithet used by Chaucer in reference to ships. By some it is defined as "dancing (on the wave)"; by others as "opposing," "warlike."
Hostile attacks very ordinarily become violent when the pro- gress is becoming rapid and on the way to be definite — espe- cially if they find they cannot carry out an effective aggression into the inner being, they try to shake by outside assaults. One must take it as a trial of strength, a call for gathering all one’s capacities of calm and openness to the Light and Power, so as to make oneself an instrument for the victory of the Divine over the undivine.
hysteroepilepsy ::: n. --> A disease resembling hysteria in its nature, and characterized by the occurrence of epileptiform convulsions, which can often be controlled or excited by pressure on the ovaries, and upon other definite points in the body.
iccha-mrtyu ::: the power of abandoning the body definitively without the ordinary phenomena of death, by an act of will.
If the Peano postulates are formulated on the basis of an interpretation according to which the domain of individuals coincides with that of the non-negative integers, the undefined term N may be dropped and the postulates reduced to the three following: (x)(y)[[S(x) = S(y)] ⊃[x = y]]. (x) ∼[S(x) = 0]. F(0)[F(x) ⊃x F(S(x))] ⊃F (x)F(y). It is possible further to drop the undefined term 0 and to replace the successor function S by a dyadic propositional function S (the contemplated interpretation being that S(x,y) is the proposition y = x+l). The Peano postulates may then be given the following form: (x)(Ey)S(x, y). (x)[S(x,y) ⊃y [S(x,z) ⊃x [y = z]]]. (x)[S(y,x) ⊃y [S(z,x) ⊃x [y = z]]]. (Ex)[[(x) ∼S(x,y)] ≡y [y = z]]. [(x) ∼S(x,z)] ⊃x [F(z)[F(x) ⊃x [S(x, y) ⊃y F(y)]] ⊃F (x)F(x)]. For this form of the Peano postulates the underlying logic may be taken to be simply the functional calculus of second order without additions. In this formulation, numerical functions can be introduced only by contextual definition as incomplete symbols.
immeasurable ::: a. --> Incapble of being measured; indefinitely extensive; illimitable; immensurable; vast.
immemorial ::: a. --> Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial.
"Immortality is one of the possible results of supramentalisation, but it is not an obligatory result and it does not mean that there will be an eternal or indefinite prolongation of life as it is. That is what many think it will be, that they will remain what they are with all their human desires and the only difference will be that they will satisfy them endlessly; but such an immortality would not be worth having and it would not be long before people are tired of it. To live in the Divine and have the divine Consciousness is itself immortality and to be able to divinise the body also and make it a fit instrument for divine works and divine life would be its material expression only.” *Letters on Yoga
“Immortality is one of the possible results of supramentalisation, but it is not an obligatory result and it does not mean that there will be an eternal or indefinite prolongation of life as it is. That is what many think it will be, that they will remain what they are with all their human desires and the only difference will be that they will satisfy them endlessly; but such an immortality would not be worth having and it would not be long before people are tired of it. To live in the Divine and have the divine Consciousness is itself immortality and to be able to divinise the body also and make it a fit instrument for divine works and divine life would be its material expression only.” Letters on Yoga
IMMORTALITY. ::: One of the possible results of supra- mentalisation, but not an obligatory result and it does not mean that there will be an eternal or indefinite prolongation of life as it is.
in a vague, indefinite or imprecise way. (Also see ‘vague" above).
indefinable ::: a. --> Incapable of being defined or described; inexplicable.
indefinable ::: impossible to define, describe, or analyze; not readily identified, analysed, or determined.
Indefinable. I object to it because my aim is to bring the Divine into life.
indefinably ::: adv. --> In an indefinable manner.
indefinite ::: a. --> Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; as, an indefinite time, plan, etc.
Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as indefinite space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
Boundless; infinite.
Too numerous or variable to make a particular
indefinitely ::: adv. --> In an indefinite manner or degree; without any settled limitation; vaguely; not with certainty or exactness; as, to use a word indefinitely.
indefiniteness ::: n. --> The quality of being indefinite.
indefinitude ::: n. --> Indefiniteness; vagueness; also, number or quantity not limited by our understanding, though yet finite.
incertum ::: a. --> Doubtful; not of definite form.
inconclusive ::: not leading to a definite decision, result, etc.
indeterminable ::: a. --> Not determinable; impossible to be determined; not to be definitely known, ascertained, defined, or limited. ::: n. --> An indeterminable thing or quantity.
indeterminate ::: a. --> Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not precise; as, an indeterminate number of years.
indicatrix ::: n. --> A certain conic section supposed to be drawn in the tangent plane to any surface, and used to determine the accidents of curvature of the surface at the point of contact. The curve is similar to the intersection of the surface with a parallel to the tangent plane and indefinitely near it. It is an ellipse when the curvature is synclastic, and an hyperbola when the curvature is anticlastic.
indistinct ::: a. --> Not distinct or distinguishable; not separate in such a manner as to be perceptible by itself; as, the indistinct parts of a substance.
Obscure to the mind or senses; not clear; not definite; confused; imperfect; faint; as, indistinct vision; an indistinct sound; an indistinct idea or recollection.
indistinctness ::: n. --> The quality or condition of being indistinct; want of definiteness; dimness; confusion; as, the indistinctness of a picture, or of comprehension; indistinctness of vision.
inexplicit ::: a. --> Not explicit; not clearly stated; indefinite; vague.
infallible ::: a. --> Not fallible; not capable of erring; entirely exempt from liability to mistake; unerring; inerrable.
Not liable to fail, deceive, or disappoint; indubitable; sure; certain; as, infallible evidence; infallible success; an infallible remedy.
Incapable of error in defining doctrines touching faith or morals. See Papal infallibility, under Infallibility.
infinite ::: a. --> Unlimited or boundless, in time or space; as, infinite duration or distance.
Without limit in power, capacity, knowledge, or excellence; boundless; immeasurably or inconceivably great; perfect; as, the infinite wisdom and goodness of God; -- opposed to finite.
Indefinitely large or extensive; great; vast; immense; gigantic; prodigious.
Greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind; --
infinitesimal ::: a. --> Infinitely or indefinitely small; less than any assignable quantity or value; very small. ::: n. --> An infinitely small quantity; that which is less than any assignable quantity.
infinitive ::: n. --> Unlimited; not bounded or restricted; undefined.
An infinitive form of the verb; a verb in the infinitive mood; the infinitive mood. ::: adv. --> In the manner of an infinitive mood.
infinity ::: 1. The quality or condition of being infinite or without limits. 2. An indefinitely large number, amount and expanse of space or time.
infinity ::: n. --> Unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity; eternity; boundlessness; immensity.
Unlimited capacity, energy, excellence, or knowledge; as, the infinity of God and his perfections.
Endless or indefinite number; great multitude; as an infinity of beauties.
A quantity greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind.
In logic: Given a relation R which is transitive, symmetric, and reflexive, we may introduce or postulate "new elements corresponding to the members of the field of R, in such a way that the same new element corresponds to two members x and y of the field of R if and only if xRy (see the article relation). These new elements are then said to be obtained by abstraction with respect to R. Peano calls this a method or kind of definition, and speaks, e.g., of cardinal numbers (q.v.) as obtained from classes by abstraction with respect to the relation of equivalence -- two classes having the same cardinal number if and only if they are equivalent.
innumerable ::: a. --> Not capable of being counted, enumerated, or numbered, for multitude; countless; numberless; unnumbered, hence, indefinitely numerous; of great number.
In scholasticism: The English term translates three Latin terms which, in Scholasticism, have different significations. Ens as a noun is the most general and most simple predicate; as a participle it is an essential predicate only in regard to God in Whom existence and essence are one, or Whose essence implies existence. Esse, though used sometimes in a wider sense, usually means existence which is defined as the actus essendi, or the reality of some essence. Esse quid or essentia designates the specific nature of some being or thing, the "being thus" or the quiddity. Ens is divided into real and mental being (ens rationis). Though the latter also has properties, it is said to have essence only in an improper way. Another division is into actual and potential being. Ens is called the first of all concepts, in respect to ontology and to psychology; the latter statement of Aristotle appears to be confirmed by developmental psychology. Thing (res) and ens are synonymous, a res may be a res extra mentem or only rationis. Every ens is: something, i.e. has quiddity, one, true, i.e. corresponds to its proper nature, and good. These terms, naming aspects which are only virtually distinct from ens, are said to be convertible with ens and with each other. Ens is an analogical term, i.e. it is not predicated in the same manner of every kind of being, according to Aquinas. In Scotism ens, however, is considered as univocal and as applying to God in the same sense as to created beings, though they be distinguished as entia ab alto from God, the ens a se. See Act, Analogy, Potency, Transcendentals. -- R.A.
In Spinoza's sense, that which "is", preeminently and without qualification -- the source and ultimate subject of all distinctions. Being is thus divided into that which is "in itself" and "in another" (Ethica, I, Ax. 4; see also "substance" and "mode", Defs. 3 and 5). Being is likewise distinguished with respect to "finite" and "infinite", under the qualifications of absolute and relative, thus God is defined (Ibid, I, Def. 6) as "Being absolutely infinite". Spinoza seems to suggest that the term, Being, has, in the strict sense, no proper definition (Cog. Met., I, 1). The main characteristics of Spinoza's treatment of this notion are (i) his clear-headed separation of the problems of existence and Being, and (ii) his carefully worked out distinction between ens reale and ens rationis by means of which Spinoza endeavors to justify the ontological argument (q.v.) in the face of criticism by the later Scholastics. -- W.S.W.
installment ::: n. --> The act of installing; installation.
The seat in which one is placed.
A portion of a debt, or sum of money, which is divided into portions that are made payable at different times. Payment by installment is payment by parts at different times, the amounts and times being often definitely stipulated.
Integral Post-Metaphysics ::: An AQAL approach to ontology and epistemology that replaces perceptions with perspectives, and thus redefines the manifest realm most fundamentally as the realm of perspectives, not things, nor events, nor processes. This also amounts to “post-ontology” and “post-epistemology,” although the terms “ontology” and “epistemology” are still used loosely given the lack of alternatives.
intelligibility ::: --> The quality or state of being intelligible; clearness; perspicuity; definiteness.
interlocutory ::: a. --> Consisting of, or having the nature of, dialogue; conversational.
Intermediate; not final or definitive; made or done during the progress of an action. ::: n. --> Interpolated discussion or dialogue.
interpret ::: v. t. --> To explain or tell the meaning of; to expound; to translate orally into intelligible or familiar language or terms; to decipher; to define; -- applied esp. to language, but also to dreams, signs, conduct, mysteries, etc.; as, to interpret the Hebrew language to an Englishman; to interpret an Indian speech.
To apprehend and represent by means of art; to show by illustrative representation; as, an actor interprets the character of Hamlet; a musician interprets a sonata; an artist interprets a
In the Ethics these basic principles are applied to the solution of the question of human good. The good for man is an actualization, or active exercise, of those faculties distinctive of man, that is the faculties of the rational, as distinct from the vegetative and sensitive souls. But human excellence thus defined shows itself in two forms, In the habitual subordination of sensitive and appetitive tendencies to rational rule and principle, and in the exercise of reason in the search for and contemplation of truth. The former type of excellence is expressed in the moral virtues, the latter in the dianoetic or intellectual virtues. A memorable feature of Aristotle's treatment of the moral virtues is his theory that each of them may be regarded as a mean between excess and defect; courage, for example, is a mean between cowardice and rashness, liberality a mean between stinginess and prodigality. In the Politics Aristotle sets forth the importance of the political community as the source and sustainer of the typically human life. But for Aristotle the highest good for man is found not in the political life, nor in any other form of practical activity, but in theoretical inquiry and contemplation of truth. This alone brings complete and continuous happiness, because it is the activity of the highest part of man's complex nature, and of that part which is least dependent upon externals, viz. the intuitive reason, or nous. In the contemplation of the first principles of knowledge and being man participates in that activity of pure thought which constitutes the eternal perfection of the divine nature.
In this article we explore definitions of the words ‘artifice’ and ‘artificer’ from various dictionary sources, their use in two poems, one by Marge Percy, The Bonsai Tree and the other, Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats, followed by all the brilliant uses by Sri Aurobindo in his magnum opus, Savitri.
In this series we explore the words of other languages and list their definitions given by major dictionaries as well as by other disciples and Sri Aurobindo in his letters on Savitri.
It ceases to apply after one has reached a certain long-estab- lished stability in the experience, that is to say, when the experi- ence amounts to a definite and permanent realisation, something finally or irrevocably added to the consciousness.
jala ::: water; [as one of the five bhutas. see apas, definition 2]
Jhumur: “Every ideal is like a kind of guide on a certain path, it helps to make a path clear, defines a line of advance. So to me, the word Angel is associated with a conscious, luminous guide on the way, and here this is the heaven of the ideal so the ideal becomes the angel. A perfect conception, a perfect idea leads man into another higher realm of expression or action.
Jhumur: “Here it may be defined as cryptic.”
Jhumur: “The field of expression, of manifestation, is time and space, the forefront of our existence, and life moves through the field of time and space. Perhaps Circumstance is when we are unconscious and don’t know where we are moving. We call it circumstance, unconscious life. If we were conscious we wouldn’t call it Circumstance. Time, Place and Circumstance define the proper outline of the subject. We are surrounded by certain conditioning factors which dictate their will. We are slaves of Circumstance and have no freedom until we become masters.”
job ::: n. --> A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
A piece of chance or occasional work; any definite work undertaken in gross for a fixed price; as, he did the job for a thousand dollars.
A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or
lax ::: not precise or defined; at ease. laxity.
legionary ::: a. --> Belonging to a legion; consisting of a legion or legions, or of an indefinitely great number; as, legionary soldiers; a legionary force. ::: n. --> A member of a legion.
lexicon ::: n. --> A vocabulary, or book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language or of a considerable number of them, with the definition of each; a dictionary; especially, a dictionary of the Greek, Hebrew, or Latin language.
lexigraphy ::: n. --> The art or practice of defining words; definition of words.
::: "Liberty in one shape or another ranks among the most ancient and certainly among the most difficult aspirations of our race: it arises from a radical instinct of our being and is yet opposed to all our circumstances, it is our eternal good and our condition of perfection, but our temporal being has failed to find its key. That perhaps is because true freedom is only possible if we live in the infinite, live, as the Vedanta bids us, in and from our self-existent being; but our natural and temporal energies seek for it first not in ourselves, but in our external conditions. This great indefinable thing, liberty, is in its highest and ultimate sense a state of being; it is self living in itself and determining by its own energy what is shall be inwardly and, eventually, by the growth of a divine spiritual power within determining too what it shall make of its external circumstances and environment." War and Self-Determination
“Liberty in one shape or another ranks among the most ancient and certainly among the most difficult aspirations of our race: it arises from a radical instinct of our being and is yet opposed to all our circumstances, it is our eternal good and our condition of perfection, but our temporal being has failed to find its key. That perhaps is because true freedom is only possible if we live in the infinite, live, as the Vedanta bids us, in and from our self-existent being; but our natural and temporal energies seek for it first not in ourselves, but in our external conditions. This great indefinable thing, liberty, is in its highest and ultimate sense a state of being; it is self living in itself and determining by its own energy what is shall be inwardly and, eventually, by the growth of a divine spiritual power within determining too what it shall make of its external circumstances and environment.” War and Self-Determination
ligroin ::: n. --> A trade name applied somewhat indefinitely to some of the volatile products obtained in refining crude petroleum. It is a complex and variable mixture of several hydrocarbons, generally boils below 170¡ Fahr., and is more inflammable than safe kerosene. It is used as a solvent, as a carburetant for air gas, and for illumination in special lamps.
limitation ::: v. t. --> The act of limiting; the state or condition of being limited; as, the limitation of his authority was approved by the council.
That which limits; a restriction; a qualification; a restraining condition, defining circumstance, or qualifying conception; as, limitations of thought.
A certain precinct within which friars were allowed to beg, or exercise their functions; also, the time during which they
limit ::: v. t. --> That which terminates, circumscribes, restrains, or confines; the bound, border, or edge; the utmost extent; as, the limit of a walk, of a town, of a country; the limits of human knowledge or endeavor.
The space or thing defined by limits.
That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance.
local ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a particular place, or to a definite region or portion of space; restricted to one place or region; as, a local custom. ::: n. --> A train which receives and deposits passengers or freight along the line of the road; a train for the accommodation of a certain
locality ::: n. --> The state, or condition, of belonging to a definite place, or of being contained within definite limits.
Position; situation; a place; a spot; esp., a geographical place or situation, as of a mineral or plant.
Limitation to a county, district, or place; as, locality of trial.
The perceptive faculty concerned with the ability to remember the relative positions of places.
localize ::: v. t. --> To make local; to fix in, or assign to, a definite place.
locate ::: v. t. --> To place; to set in a particular spot or position.
To designate the site or place of; to define the limits of; as, to locate a public building; to locate a mining claim; to locate (the land granted by) a land warrant. ::: v. i. --> To place one&
locust ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of long-winged, migratory, orthopterous insects, of the family Acrididae, allied to the grasshoppers; esp., (Edipoda, / Pachytylus, migratoria, and Acridium perigrinum, of Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States the related species with similar habits are usually called grasshoppers. See Grasshopper.
The locust tree. See Locust Tree (definition, note, and phrases).
logos reason ::: a term used in October 1920 for the second level of logos vijñana; it is defined as "the lower representative idea", apparently referring to the form of intuitive revelatory logistis previously called representative revelatory vijñana. logos vij ñana
maieutical ::: a. --> Serving to assist childbirth.
Fig. : Aiding, or tending to, the definition and interpretation of thoughts or language.
malaise ::: n. --> An indefinite feeling of uneasiness, or of being sick or ill at ease.
malaria ::: n. --> Air infected with some noxious substance capable of engendering disease; esp., an unhealthy exhalation from certain soils, as marshy or wet lands, producing fevers; miasma.
A morbid condition produced by exhalations from decaying vegetable matter in contact with moisture, giving rise to fever and ague and many other symptoms characterized by their tendency to recur at definite and usually uniform intervals.
margarin ::: n. --> A fatty substance, extracted from animal fats and certain vegetable oils, formerly supposed to be a definite compound of glycerin and margaric acid, but now known to be simply a mixture or combination of tristearin and teipalmitin.
mass ::: n. 1. A body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size. 2. A large amount or number, such as a great body of people. masses, flower-masses. 3. Bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness. 4. The main body, bulk, or greater part of anything. 5. Physics. A measure of the amount of matter contained in or constituting a physical body. adj. 6. Of, involving, composed of masses of people (or things) or the majority of people (or a society, group, etc.); done, made, etc., on a large scale. v. 7. To gather into or dispose in a mass or masses; assemble. massed.
measure ::: n. 1. A unit of standard of measurement. 2. The extent, quantity, dimensions, etc. of (something), ascertained esp. by comparison with a standard. 3. Bounds or limits. 4. A definite or known quality or quantity measured out. 5. A short rhythmical movement or arrangement, as in poetry or music. measures. *v. 6. To determine the size, amount, etc. 7. To estimate the relative amount, value, etc., of, by comparison with some standard. 8. To travel or move over as if measuring. *measured, measuring.
melotype ::: n. --> A picture produced by a process in which development after exposure may be deferred indefinitely, so as to permit transportation of exposed plates; also, the process itself.
metalloid ::: n. --> Formerly, the metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; -- applied by Sir H. Davy to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined.
Now, one of several elementary substances which in the free state are unlike metals, and whose compounds possess or produce acid, rather than basic, properties; a nonmetal; as, boron, carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, bromine, etc., are
methionic ::: a. --> Of, pertaining to, or designating, a sulphonic (thionic) acid derivative of methane, obtained as a stable white crystalline substance, CH2.(SO3H)2, which forms well defined salts.
million ::: n. --> The number of ten hundred thousand, or a thousand thousand, -- written 1,000, 000. See the Note under Hundred.
A very great number; an indefinitely large number.
The mass of common people; -- with the article the.
mineral ::: v. i. --> An inorganic species or substance occurring in nature, having a definite chemical composition and usually a distinct crystalline form. Rocks, except certain glassy igneous forms, are either simple minerals or aggregates of minerals.
A mine.
Anything which is neither animal nor vegetable, as in the most general classification of things into three kingdoms (animal, vegetable, and mineral).
moiety ::: a. --> One of two equal parts; a half; as, a moiety of an estate, of goods, or of profits; the moiety of a jury, or of a nation.
An indefinite part; a small part.
moment ::: n. **1. An indefinitely short period of time; an instant. 2. Now, the present instant. 3. A particular period of importance, influence, or significance in a series of events or developments 4. A specific instant or point in time. moment"s, moments, moments", momentless, moment-beats, moment-ridden. v. moments. 5.** Brings significance to the moment.
moonbelts ::: broad bands or stripes characteristically distinguished from the surface they cross; tracts or districts long in proportion to their breadths. Also, zones or districts, usually with defining term denoting the principal characteristic.
morphon ::: n. --> A morphological individual, characterized by definiteness of form bion, a physiological individual. See Tectology.
Mother, The ::: ...the Mother is One but she comes before us with differing aspects, many are her powers and personalities, many her emanations and Vibhutis that do her work in the universe. The whom who we adore as the Mother is the Divine Consciousness Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freeest and most vast intelligence. The Mother is the Conciousness and Force of the Supreme and far above all she creates. But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the godess forms in who she consents to be manifest to her creatures. ::: There are three ways of being of which you can become aware when you enter into touch of Oneness with the Consciousness Force that upholds us and the universe. Transcendent, the original Supreme shakti, she stands above the worlds and links the creation to the ever unmanifest mystery of the Supreme. Universal the cosmic Mahashakti, she creates all these beings and contains and enters, supports and conducts all these million processes and forces. Individual she embodies the power of these two vaster ways of her existence, makes them living and near to us and mediates between the human personality and the Divine Nature....
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 111
Ṁ tat sat ::: a mantra said to be "the triple definition" of the brahman: OM, also spelled AUM, is the "Word of Manifestation", symbolising "the outward-looking, the inward or subtle and the superconscient causal Purusha", indicated respectively by the letters A, U and M, while "the syllable as a whole brings out the fourth state, Turiya, which rises to the Absolute"; tat, That, "indicates the Absolute"; sat "indicates the supreme and universal existence in its principle". [cf.Gita 17.23]
“My researches first convinced me that words, like plants, like animals, are in no sense artificial products, but growths,—living growths of sound with certain seed-sounds as their basis. Out of these seed-sounds develop a small number of primitive root-words with an immense progeny which have their successive generations and arrange themselves in tribes, clans, families, selective groups each having a common stock and a common psychological history. For the factor which presided over the development of language was the association, by the nervous mind of primitive man, of certain general significances or rather of certain general utilities and sense-values with articulate sounds. The process of this association was also in no sense artificial but natural, governed by simple and definite psychological laws.” The Secret of the Veda
myriad ::: n. 1. Ten thousand. 2. A very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things. myriads. *adj. 3. Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable. Chiefly poet. *myriad-motioned.
myriad ::: n. --> The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things.
An immense number; a very great many; an indefinitely large number. ::: a. --> Consisting of a very great, but indefinite, number; as, myriad stars.
myriophyllous ::: a. --> Having an indefinitely great or countless number of leaves.
nebulation ::: n. --> The condition of being nebulated; also, a clouded, or ill-defined, color mark.
nebulous ::: lacking definite form or limits; vague.
negation ::: adv. --> The act of denying; assertion of the nonreality or untruthfulness of anything; declaration that something is not, or has not been, or will not be; denial; -- the opposite of affirmation.
Description or definition by denial, exclusion, or exception; statement of what a thing is not, or has not, from which may be inferred what it is or has.
Nihil (Sri Aurobindo’s Definitions)
nirukta ::: etymology; philology, part of sahitya: the study of the origins and development of language, especially with reference to Sanskrit, with the aim of creating "a science which can trace the origins, growth & structure of the Sanscrit language, discover its primary, secondary & tertiary forms & the laws by which they develop from each other, trace intelligently the descent of every meaning of a word in Sanscrit from its original root sense, account for all similarities & identities of sense, discover the reason of unexpected divergences, trace the deviations which separated Greek & Latin from the Indian dialect, discover & define the connection of all three with the Dravidian forms of speech".
nitroform ::: n. --> A nitro derivative of methane, analogous to chloroform, obtained as a colorless oily or crystalline substance, CH.(NO2)3, quite explosive, and having well-defined acid properties.
nitrophnol ::: n. --> Any one of a series of nitro derivatives of phenol. They are yellow oily or crystalline substances and have well-defined acid properties, as picric acid.
nitroquinol ::: n. --> A hypothetical nitro derivative of quinol or hydroquinone, not known in the free state, but forming a well defined series of derivatives.
Nolini: “The image is that of the comoposition of an army or that of a mathematical series (e.g., arithmetical or geometrical progression). It is composed of regularised uits of different values (group of sums), but all measured and definite and precise—e.g.., in the case of an army—company, brigade, battalion, army—an ascending scale, the whole also forming one big unit, taken in at a single glance—that is the nature of overmind vision.
nominal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a name or names; having to do with the literal meaning of a word; verbal; as, a nominal definition.
Existing in name only; not real; as, a nominal difference. ::: n. --> A nominalist.
A verb formed from a noun.
not definitely limited or restricted; indefinite; vague.
Note that all definitions are taken from the Lexicon of an Infinite Mind, published by the Savitri Foundation and available through Amazon and Create Space. Words that have gravitated in the English language and are well used, such as those from classical mythology, Dionysian, Circean, etc. are not included.
not fixed in a definite place or position; unfastened, loose, free.
notion ::: --> Mental apprehension of whatever may be known or imagined; an idea; a conception; more properly, a general or universal conception, as distinguishable or definable by marks or notae.
A sentiment; an opinion.
Sense; mind.
An invention; an ingenious device; a knickknack; as, Yankee notions.
Inclination; intention; disposition; as, I have a notion to
not shaped, moulded or definitely formed.
octavo ::: n. --> A book composed of sheets each of which is folded into eight leaves; hence, indicating more or less definitely a size of book so made; -- usually written 8vo or 8¡. ::: a. --> Having eight leaves to a sheet; as, an octavo form, book, leaf, size, etc.
octodecimo ::: a. --> Having eighteen leaves to a sheet; as, an octodecimo form, book, leaf, size, etc. ::: n. --> A book composed of sheets each of which is folded into eighteen leaves; hence; indicating more or less definitely a size of book, whose sheets are so folded; -- usually written 18mo or 18¡, and
odd ::: superl. --> Not paired with another, or remaining over after a pairing; without a mate; unmatched; single; as, an odd shoe; an odd glove.
Not divisible by 2 without a remainder; not capable of being evenly paired, one unit with another; as, 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, etc., are odd numbers.
Left over after a definite round number has been taken or mentioned; indefinitely, but not greatly, exceeding a specified number;
of undetermined or indefinitely great extent or amount; unlimited; measureless.
ohm ::: n. --> The standard unit in the measure of electrical resistance, being the resistance of a circuit in which a potential difference of one volt produces a current of one ampere. As defined by the International Electrical Congress in 1893, and by United States Statute, it is a resistance substantially equal to 109 units of resistance of the C.G.S. system of electro-magnetic units, and is represented by the resistance offered to an unvarying electric current by a column of mercury at the temperature of melting ice 14.4521 grams
once ::: adv. --> By limitation to the number one; for one time; not twice nor any number of times more than one.
At some one period of time; -- used indefinitely.
At any one time; -- often nearly equivalent to ever, if ever, or whenever; as, once kindled, it may not be quenched.
one ::: a. --> Being a single unit, or entire being or thing, and no more; not multifold; single; individual.
Denoting a person or thing conceived or spoken of indefinitely; a certain. "I am the sister of one Claudio" [Shak.], that is, of a certain man named Claudio.
Pointing out a contrast, or denoting a particular thing or person different from some other specified; -- used as a correlative adjective, with or without the.
oneself ::: pron. --> A reflexive form of the indefinite pronoun one. Commonly writen as two words, one&
“On the surface of life all appears to be a game of Chance. There is no certainty about any movement; ups and downs, vicissitudes, cataclysms, actions, passions and thoughts crowd in medley and it is impossible to anticipate or regulate them with any definiteness. But a deeper scrutiny reveals a pattern behind all the apparent workings of Chance. What looks like Chance is itself a part of the process; it is called Chance because the particular operation does not take place within the framework of the laws erected by the limited empirical mind; there is really no Chance in the working out of the divine Intention that is this Universe.” Readings in Savitri Vol. III.
operation ::: n. --> The act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
The method of working; mode of action.
That which is operated or accomplished; an effect brought about in accordance with a definite plan; as, military or naval operations.
Effect produced; influence.
Something to be done; some transformation to be made
"Ordinarily we mean by it [consciousness] our first obvious idea of a mental waking consciousness such as is possessed by the human being during the major part of his bodily existence, when he is not asleep, stunned or otherwise deprived of his physical and superficial methods of sensation. In this sense it is plain enough that consciousness is the exception and not the rule in the order of the material universe. We ourselves do not always possess it. But this vulgar and shallow idea of the nature of consciousness, though it still colours our ordinary thought and associations, must now definitely disappear out of philosophical thinking. For we know that there is something in us which is conscious when we sleep, when we are stunned or drugged or in a swoon, in all apparently unconscious states of our physical being. Not only so, but we may now be sure that the old thinkers were right when they declared that even in our waking state what we call then our consciousness is only a small selection from our entire conscious being. It is a superficies, it is not even the whole of our mentality. Behind it, much vaster than it, there is a subliminal or subconscient mind which is the greater part of ourselves and contains heights and profundities which no man has yet measured or fathomed.” Letters on Yoga
“Ordinarily we mean by it [consciousness] our first obvious idea of a mental waking consciousness such as is possessed by the human being during the major part of his bodily existence, when he is not asleep, stunned or otherwise deprived of his physical and superficial methods of sensation. In this sense it is plain enough that consciousness is the exception and not the rule in the order of the material universe. We ourselves do not always possess it. But this vulgar and shallow idea of the nature of consciousness, though it still colours our ordinary thought and associations, must now definitely disappear out of philosophical thinking. For we know that there is something in us which is conscious when we sleep, when we are stunned or drugged or in a swoon, in all apparently unconscious states of our physical being. Not only so, but we may now be sure that the old thinkers were right when they declared that even in our waking state what we call then our consciousness is only a small selection from our entire conscious being. It is a superficies, it is not even the whole of our mentality. Behind it, much vaster than it, there is a subliminal or subconscient mind which is the greater part of ourselves and contains heights and profundities which no man has yet measured or fathomed.” Letters on Yoga
orthotone ::: a. --> Retaining the accent; not enclitic; -- said of certain indefinite pronouns and adverbs when used interrogatively, which, when not so used, are ordinarilly enclitic.
overmind gnosis ::: (c. 1931, in the diagram on page 1360) the highest plane of overmind, defined as "supermind subdued to the overmind play" (see supermind); it may also be regarded as a series of planes.
parabola ::: n. --> A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus.
One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = /. See under
parabrahman ::: the supreme Reality (brahman), "absolute and ineffable . . . beyond all cosmic being", from which "originate both the mobile and the immobile, the mutable and the immutable, the action and the silence"; it "is not Being [sat] or Non-Being [asat], but something of which Being & Non-Being are primary symbols". As it is "indescribable by any name or definite conception", it is referred to by the neuter pronoun tat, That, in order "to speak of this Unknowable in the most comprehensive and general way . . . ; but this neuter does not exclude the aspect of universal and transcendent Personality". parabrahman-mah parabrahman-mahamaya
paraffine ::: n. --> A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used as an illuminant and lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, of the same chemical series; thus coal gas and
Parapurusha ::: ...something approaching our universe-existence, inexpressible indeed, but still here expressed.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 12, Page: 107 ::: Para Purusha or Purushottama is the Self containing and enjoying both the stillness and the movement, but conditioned and limited by neither of them. It is the Lord, Brahman, the All, the Indefinable and Unknowable.
Ref: CWSA Vol. Vol. 17, Page: 32
parcel ::: n. --> A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.
An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet.
passion-play ::: a dramatic performance, of medieval origin, that represents the events associated with the Passion of Jesus; also transf. See also passion, definition 7.
pass ::: v. i. --> To go; to move; to proceed; to be moved or transferred from one point to another; to make a transit; -- usually with a following adverb or adverbal phrase defining the kind or manner of motion; as, to pass on, by, out, in, etc.; to pass swiftly, directly, smoothly, etc.; to pass to the rear, under the yoke, over the bridge, across the field, beyond the border, etc.
To move or be transferred from one state or condition to another; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo
Patience ::: In a more deep and spiritual sense a concrete realisation is that which makes the thing realised more real, dynamic, intimately present to the consciousness than any physical thing can be. Such a realisation of the personal Divine or of the impersonal Brahman or of the Self does not usually come at the beginning of a sadhana or in the first years or for many years. It comes so to a very few. Most would say that a slow development is the best one can hope for in the first years and only when the nature is ready and fully concentrated towards the Divine can the definitive experience come. To some rapid preparatory experiences can come at a comparatively early stage, but even they cannot escape the labour of the consciousness which will make these experiences culminate in the realisation that is enduring and complete. It is a matter of fact and truth and experience, not of liking or disliking.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 240-41
people ::: n. --> The body of persons who compose a community, tribe, nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a whole; a community; a nation.
Persons, generally; an indefinite number of men and women; folks; population, or part of population; as, country people; -- sometimes used as an indefinite subject or verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in adversity.
The mass of comunity as distinguished from a special class;
perennial ::: lasting an indefinitely long time; enduring.
period ::: n. --> A portion of time as limited and determined by some recurring phenomenon, as by the completion of a revolution of one of the heavenly bodies; a division of time, as a series of years, months, or days, in which something is completed, and ready to recommence and go on in the same order; as, the period of the sun, or the earth, or a comet.
A stated and recurring interval of time; more generally, an interval of time specified or left indefinite; a certain series of
permanence ::: the property of being able to exist for an indefinite duration. Permanence.
perpetual ::: 1. Continuing or lasting for an indefinitely long time. 2. Continuing without interruption. perpetually.
perpetuate ::: v. t. --> To make perpetual; to cause to endure, or to be continued, indefinitely; to preserve from extinction or oblivion; to eternize. ::: a. --> Made perpetual; perpetuated.
perpetuation ::: n. --> The act of making perpetual, or of preserving from extinction through an endless existence, or for an indefinite period of time; continuance.
perpetuity ::: endless or indefinitely long duration or existence; eternity.
persistent ::: 1. Insistently repetitive or continuous. 2. Existing or remaining in the same state for an indefinitely long time; enduring.
person ::: n. --> A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
The bodily form of a human being; body; outward appearance; as, of comely person.
A living, self-conscious being, as distinct from an animal or a thing; a moral agent; a human being; a man, woman, or child.
A human being spoken of indefinitely; one; a man; as, any
photon ::: the quantum of electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime. photon"s.
physical ::: The Mother: “The physical is the concrete domain that crystallises and defines the thoughts, the movements of the vital, etc. It is a solid foundation for action.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
physical ::: the Mother: "The physical is the concrete domain that crystallises and defines the thoughts, the movements of the vital, etc. It is a solid foundation for action.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
piece ::: n. --> A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces.
A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper.
Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance
pigeonhole ::: n. --> A small compartment in a desk or case for the keeping of letters, documents, etc.; -- so called from the resemblance of a row of them to the compartments in a dovecote. ::: v. t. --> To place in the pigeonhole of a case or cabinet; hence, to put away; to lay aside indefinitely; as, to pigeonhole a
pinkroot ::: n. --> The root of Spigelia Marilandica, used as a powerful vermifuge; also, that of S. Anthelmia. See definition 2 (below).
A perennial North American herb (Spigelia Marilandica), sometimes cultivated for its showy red blossoms. Called also Carolina pink, Maryland pinkroot, and worm grass.
An annual South American and West Indian plant (Spigelia Anthelmia).
pitch-faced ::: a. --> Having the arris defined by a line beyond which the rock is cut away, so as to give nearly true edges; -- said of squared stones that are otherwise quarry-faced.
place ::: n. --> Any portion of space regarded as measured off or distinct from all other space, or appropriated to some definite object or use; position; ground; site; spot; rarely, unbounded space.
A broad way in a city; an open space; an area; a court or short part of a street open only at one end.
A position which is occupied and held; a dwelling; a mansion; a village, town, or city; a fortified town or post; a stronghold; a region or country.
polycotyledonary ::: a. --> Having the villi of the placenta collected into definite patches, or cotyledons.
positive ::: a. --> Having a real position, existence, or energy; existing in fact; real; actual; -- opposed to negative.
Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations; absolute; -- opposed to relative; as, the idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes individuals.
Definitely laid down; explicitly stated; clearly expressed; -- opposed to implied; as, a positive declaration or
postpone ::: v. t. --> To defer to a future or later time; to put off; also, to cause to be deferred or put off; to delay; to adjourn; as, to postpone the consideration of a bill to the following day, or indefinitely.
To place after, behind, or below something, in respect to precedence, preference, value, or importance.
pradiv (pradiv; pradiva) ::: the "intermediate mentality", a level of consciousness described as "pure mind in relation with nervous"; a mental akasa defined as the ether of the "prano-manasic buddhi" behind the cittakasa.
prana ::: 1. Life-energy; life; the breath of life. ::: 2. the five pranas: the five workings of the life-force: [prana (see definition 3 below), apana, vydna, samana, udana]. ::: 3. [one of the five pranas]: it moves in the upper part of the body and is pre-eminently the breath of life, because it brings the universal force into the physical system and gives it there to be distributed.
predefine ::: v. t. --> To define beforehand.
precise ::: a. --> Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality.
Strictly adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious.
precise ::: sharply exact or accurate or defined; fixed.
precision ::: n. --> The quality or state of being precise; exact limitation; exactness; accuracy; strict conformity to a rule or a standard; definiteness.
predesignate ::: a. --> A term used by Sir William Hamilton to define propositions having their quantity indicated by a verbal sign; as, all, none, etc.; -- contrasted with preindesignate, defining propositions of which the quantity is not so indicated.
predicament ::: n. --> A class or kind described by any definite marks; hence, condition; particular situation or state; especially, an unfortunate or trying position or condition.
See Category.
preindesignate ::: a. --> Having no sign expressive of quantity; indefinite. See Predesignate.
presently ::: adv. --> At present; at this time; now.
At once; without delay; forthwith; also, less definitely, soon; shortly; before long; after a little while; by and by.
With actual presence; actually .
process ::: a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner. processes.
Psychicisation is not enough, it is only a beginning ; spiritualisa- tion and the descent of the higher consciousness is not enough, it is only a middle term ; the ultimate achievement needs the action of the Supramental Consciousness and Force. Something less than that may very well be considered enough by (he mdivi- dual, but it is not enough for the earth-consciousness to take the definite stride forward it must take one time or other.
pteryla ::: n. --> One of the definite areas of the skin of a bird on which feathers grow; -- contrasted with apteria.
pterylosis ::: n. --> The arrangement of feathers in definite areas.
purus.a (purusha) ::: man; person; soul; spirit; the Self (atman) "as purusa originator, witness, support and lord and enjoyer of the forms and works of Nature" (prakr.ti); the conscious being, universal or individual, observing and upholding the activity of Nature on any plane of existence; the infinite divine Person (purus.ottama), "the Existent who .. transcends all definition by personality and yet is always that which is the essence of personality"; any of the ten types of consciousness (dasa-gavas) in the evolutionary scale. purusa purus
quadrature ::: a. --> The act of squaring; the finding of a square having the same area as some given curvilinear figure; as, the quadrature of a circle; the operation of finding an expression for the area of a figure bounded wholly or in part by a curved line, as by a curve, two ordinates, and the axis of abscissas.
A quadrate; a square.
The integral used in obtaining the area bounded by a curve; hence, the definite integral of the product of any function of
qualify ::: v. t. --> To make such as is required; to give added or requisite qualities to; to fit, as for a place, office, occupation, or character; to furnish with the knowledge, skill, or other accomplishment necessary for a purpose; to make capable, as of an employment or privilege; to supply with legal power or capacity.
To give individual quality to; to modulate; to vary; to regulate.
To reduce from a general, undefined, or comprehensive
quantum ::: n. --> Quantity; amount.
A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.
Quidditative: In the strict sense, is that which arises from the proper image of an object, like intuitive knowledge, and besides, penetrates distinctly, with a clear, proper, and positive concept, the essential predicates of a thing even to the last difference. The knowledge which God has of Himself is of this kind. But quidditative knowledge in the wide sense is any knowledge of the quiddity or essence of an object, or any definition explaining what a thing is. -- H.G.
quincunx ::: n. --> An arrangement of things by fives in a square or a rectangle, one being placed at each corner and one in the middle; especially, such an arrangement of trees repeated indefinitely, so as to form a regular group with rows running in various directions.
The position of planets when distant from each other five signs, or 150¡.
A quincuncial arrangement, as of the parts of a flower in aestivation. See Quincuncial, 2.
quipu ::: n. --> A contrivance employed by the ancient Peruvians, Mexicans, etc., as a substitute for writing and figures, consisting of a main cord, from which hung at certain distances smaller cords of various colors, each having a special meaning, as silver, gold, corn, soldiers. etc. Single, double, and triple knots were tied in the smaller cords, representing definite numbers. It was chiefly used for arithmetical purposes, and to register important facts and events.
random ::: 1. Proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern. 2. Lacking any definite plan or prearranged order; haphazard. randomness.
random ::: n. --> Force; violence.
A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase at random, that is, without a settled point of direction; at hazard.
Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of a rifle ball.
The direction of a rake-vein.
rectifiable ::: a. --> Capable of being rectified; as, a rectifiable mistake.
Admitting, as a curve, of the construction of a straight l//e equal in length to any definite portion of the curve.
region ::: n. --> One of the grand districts or quarters into which any space or surface, as of the earth or the heavens, is conceived of as divided; hence, in general, a portion of space or territory of indefinite extent; country; province; district; tract.
Tract, part, or space, lying about and including anything; neighborhood; vicinity; sphere.
The upper air; the sky; the heavens.
The inhabitants of a district.
repeatedly ::: adv. --> More than once; again and again; indefinitely.
rigorous ::: a. --> Manifesting, exercising, or favoring rigor; allowing no abatement or mitigation; scrupulously accurate; exact; strict; severe; relentless; as, a rigorous officer of justice; a rigorous execution of law; a rigorous definition or demonstration.
Severe; intense; inclement; as, a rigorous winter.
Violent.
ring-necked ::: a. --> Having a well defined ring of color around the neck.
round ::: n. 1. A completed course of time, series of events or operations, etc., ending at a point corresponding to that at the beginning. 2. A going around from place to place as in a habitual or definite circuit. 3. A recurring period of time, succession of events, duties, etc. 4. Moving in or forming a circle. round"s, rounds. wonder-rounds. 5. A composition for two or more voices in which each voice enters at a different time with the same melody. rounds. v. 6. Brings to a highly developed, finished, or refined state.
RULES. ::: In the things of the subtle kind having to do with the working of consciousness in the sadhana. one has to Icam to feel and observe and sec with the inner consciousness and to decide by the intuition with a plastic look on things which docs not make set definitions and rules as one has to do in ouUvard life.
sad-brahman (sat brahman) ::: Existence pure, indefinable, infinite, absolute.
Samadbi or Yogic trance retires to increasing depths accord* lag as it dran^ farther and farther away from the nonnal or waking state and enters into degrees of consciousness less and less communicable to the waking mind, less and less ready to receive a summons from the waking world. Beyond a certain point the trance becomes complete and it is then almost or quite impossible to awaken or calf back the soul that has receded into them ; it can only come back by its own will or at most by a violent shock of physical appeal dangerous to the sj'stem owing to the abrupt upheaval of return. There are said to be supreme states of trance in which the soul persisting for too long a lime cannot return ; for it loses its hold on the cord which binds it to the consciousness of life, and the body is left, maintained indeed in its set position, not dead by dissolution, but incapable of recovering the ensouled life which had rnhahifed it. finally, the Yogin acquires at a certain stage of development the power of abandoning his body definitively without the ordinary pheno- mena of death, by an act of will, or by a process of withdrawing the pranic life-force through the gate of the upward life-current
Samadhi or Yogic trance retires to increasing depths according as it draws farther and farther away from the normal or waking state and enters into degrees of consciousness less and less communicable to the waking mind, less and less ready to receive a summons from the waking world. Beyond a certain point the trance becomes complete and it is then almost or quite impossible to awaken or call back the soul that has receded into them; it can only come back by its own will or at most by a violent shock of physical appeal dangerous to the system owing to the abrupt upheaval of return. There are said to be supreme states of trance in which the soul persisting for too long a time cannot return; for it loses its hold on the cord which binds it to the consciousness of life, and the body is left, maintained indeed in its set position, not dead by dissolution, but incapable of recovering the ensouled life which had inhabited it. Finally, the Yogin acquires at a certain stage of development the power of abandoning his body definitively without the ordinary phenomena of death, by an act of will,1 or by a process of withdrawing the pranic life-force through the gate of the upward life-current (udana), opening for it a way through the mystic brahmarandhra in the head. By departure from life in the state of Samadhi he attains directly to that higher status of being to which he aspires.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 520-21
sat ::: being, existence; substance; "pure existence, eternal, infinite, indefinable, not affected by the succession of Time, not involved in the extension of Space, beyond form, quantity, quality", the first term of saccidananda and the principle that is the basis of satyaloka;"the spiritual substance of being" which is cast "into all manner of forms and movements"; existence as "the stuff of its own becoming", which on every plane is "shaped into the substance with which Force has to deal" and "has formed itself here, fundamentally, as Matter; it has been objectivised, made sensible and concrete to its own .. self-experiencing conscious-force in the form of self-dividing material substance" (anna1); short for sat brahman.
sat brahman (sat brahman; sat-brahman) ::: brahman as universal Being, same as sarvaṁ brahma; "Existence pure, indefinable, infinite, absolute, . . . the fundamental Reality which Vedantic experience discovers behind all the movement and formation which constitute the apparent reality".
Scholz and Schweitzer, Die sogenannten Definitionen durch Abstraktion, Leipzig, 1935.
Second Tier ::: Used to summarize the Flex Flow and Global View stages of value systems development from the Spiral Dynamics model. These stages are defined by their capacity to see the relative importance of all value systems, as opposed to First-Tier value systems, which declare their values to be the only correct values. Integral Theory uses Second Tier to refer to the Teal and Turquoise levels of developmental altitude.
seed-sounds ::: Sri Aurobindo: "My researches first convinced me that words, like plants, like animals, are in no sense artificial products, but growths, — living growths of sound with certain seed-sounds as their basis. Out of these seed-sounds develop a small number of primitive root-words with an immense progeny which have their successive generations and arrange themselves in tribes, clans, families, selective groups each having a common stock and a common psychological history. For the factor which presided over the development of language was the association, by the nervous mind of primitive man, of certain general significances or rather of certain general utilities and sense-values with articulate sounds. The process of this association was also in no sense artificial but natural, governed by simple and definite psychological laws.” *The Secret of the Veda
See further the articles Recursion, definition by, and Recursion, proof by. -- A.C.
Seeking for occulf powers is looked on with disfavour for the most part by spiritual teachers in India, because it belongs to the inferior planes and usually pushes the seeker on a path which may lead him very far from the Divine. Especially, a contact mth the forces and beings of the astral (or, as we term it, the vital) plane is attended with great dangers. The beings of this plane are often bosiQc to the true aim of spiritual life and establish contact with the seeker and offer him powers and occult experiences only in order that they may lead him away from the spiritual path or else that they may establish their own control over him or take possession of him for their owm pur- pose. Often, representing themselves as Divine powers they mis- lead, give erring suggestions and impulsions and pervert the inner life. Many are those who, attracted by these powers and beings of the vital plane, bave ended in a definitive spiritual fall or in mental and physical perversion and disorder. One comes ineritably into contact with the vital plane and enters into it in the expansion of consriousness which results from an inner opening, but one ought never to put oneself into the hands of these beings and forces or allow oneself to be led by their sug- gestions and impulsions. This is one of the chief dangers of the spiritual life and to be on one’s guard against it is a necessity for the seeTer if he wishes to arrive at his goal. It is true that many supraphysical or supernonnal powers come with the expansion of the consciousness in the yoga ; to rise out of the body consciousness, to act by subtle means on the supraphysical planes, etc. are natural activities for the yogi- But these powers are not sought after, they come naturally, and they have not the astral character. Also, Aey have to be used on purely spiritual
SELF-MASTERY. ::: To be aware of one's central conscious- ness and to know the action of the forces is the first definite step towards self-mastery.
self-seeking ::: [Ed. note: In this instance the meaning of the word is seeking for itself, rather than the usual definition which is the seeking of one"s own interest or selfish ends.]
semble ::: a. --> To imitate; to make a representation or likeness.
It seems; -- chiefly used impersonally in reports and judgments to express an opinion in reference to the law on some point not necessary to be decided, and not intended to be definitely settled in the cause.
Like; resembling.
series ::: n. --> A number of things or events standing or succeeding in order, and connected by a like relation; sequence; order; course; a succession of things; as, a continuous series of calamitous events.
Any comprehensive group of animals or plants including several subordinate related groups.
An indefinite number of terms succeeding one another, each of which is derived from one or more of the preceding by a fixed law, called the law of the series; as, an arithmetical series; a geometrical