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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



402 words match “DISTINCTION”

TOWNSPEOPLE n.
The inhabitants of a town or city, especially in distinction from country people; townsfolk.
TRIBE n.
A division, class, or distinct portion of a people, from whatever cause that distinction may have originated; as, the city of Athens was divided into ten tribes.
UMBRA n.
he sun, within which a spectator could see no portion of the sun's disk; -- used in contradistinction from penumbra. See Penumbra.
UNDISTINCTIVE a.
Making no distinctions; not discriminating; impartial. As undistinctive Death will come here one day. Dickens.
UNIT n.
f numeration; one taken in the abstract; the number represented by 1. The term is used in distinction from concrete, or determinate, unit, that is, a unit in which the kind of thing is expressed; a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like. -- Complex unit (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary n…
UNTITLED a.
Not titled; having no title, or appellation of dignity or distinction. Spenser.
UPPER a.
water. -- Upper world. (a) The atmosphere. (b) Heaven. (c) This world; the earth; -- in distinction from the underworld.
VACUUM n.
A space entirely devoid of matter (called also, by way of distinction, absolute vacuum); hence, in a more general sense, a space, as the interior of a closed vessel, which has been exhausted to a high or the highest degree by an air pump or other artificial means; as, water boils at a reduced temperature in a vacuum.…
VARIETAL a.
Of or pertaining to a variety; characterizing a variety; constituting a variety, in distinction from an individual or species. Perplexed in determining what differences to consider as specific, and what as varietal. Darwin.
VASCULAR a.
higher division of plants, that is, the phænogamous plants, all of which are vascular, in distinction from the cryptogams, which to a large extent are cellular only. Vascular plants (Bot.), plants composed in part of vascular tissue, as all flowering plants and the higher cryptogamous plants, or those of the class Pter…
VIS n.
] (Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is not usu…
VOCAL a.
ibrations during the act of using the voice. -- Vocal music, music made by the voice, in distinction from instrumental music; hence, music or tunes set to words, to be performed by the human voice. -- Vocal tube (Anat.), the part of the air passages above the inferior ligaments of the larynx, including the passages t…
VOLUNTARY a. 2 definitions
will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal, such as the movements of the leg or arm (in distinction from involuntary motions, such as the movements of the heart); the voluntary muscle fibers, which are the agents in voluntary motion.
WATER COLOR n.
and gum or other glutinous medium; a color the vehicle of which is water; -- so called in distinction from oil color.
WATERMAN n.
A man who plies for hire on rivers, lakes, or canals, or in harbors, in distinction from a seaman who is engaged on the high seas; a man who manages fresh-water craft; a boatman; a ferryman.
WET a.
ng, or done by means of, water or some other liquid; as, the wet extraction of copper, in distinction from dry extraction in which dry heat or fusion is employed.
WHITESMITH n.
A worker in iron who finishes or polishes the work, in distinction from one who forges it.
WHOLESALE n.
ty, as distinguished from retail. By wholesale, in the mass; in large quantities; without distinction or discrimination. Some, from vanity or envy, despise a valuable book, and throw contempt upon it by wholesale. I. Watts.
WOOL-DYED a.
Dyed before being made into cloth, in distinction from piece- dyed; ingrain.
WORLDLY a.
Pertaining to this world or life, in contradistinction from the life to come; secular; temporal; devoted to this life and its enjoyments; bent on gain; as, worldly pleasures, affections, honor, lusts, men. With his soul fled all my worldly solace. Shak.
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