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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



673 words match “CHARACTERIZE”

ARTLESS a.
Free from guile, art, craft, or stratagem; characterized by simplicity and sincerity; sincere; guileless; ingenuous; honest; as, an artless mind; an artless tale. They were plain, artless men, without the least appearance of enthusiasm or credulity about them. Porteus. O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven's e…
ASCETIC n.
In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things. I am far from commending those ascetics that take up their quarters…
ASPIRATE n.
A sound consisting of, or characterized by, a breath like the sound of h; the breathing h or a character representing such a sound; an aspirated sound.
ASSEVERATIVE a.
Characterized by asseveration; asserting positively.
ASSIMILATIVE a.
Tending to, or characterized by, assimilation; that assimilates or causes assimilation; as, an assimilative process or substance.
ASSUMPTIVE a.
Assumed, or capable of being assumed; characterized by assumption; making unwarranted claims. -- As*sump"tive*ly, adv. Assumptive arms (Her.), originally, arms which a person had a right to assume, in consequence of an exploit; now, those assumed without sanction of the Heralds' College. Percy Smith.…
ASTHENIC a.
Characterized by, or pertaining to, debility; weak; debilitating.
ASTHMA n.
A disease, characterized by difficulty of breathing (due to a spasmodic contraction of the bronchi), recurring at intervals, accompanied with a wheezing sound, a sense of constriction in the chest, a cough, and expectoration.
ASYNDETIC a.
Characterized by the use of asyndeton; not connected by conjunctions. -- As`yn*det"ic*al*ly, adv.
ATAXIA; ATAXY n.
The state of disorder that characterizes nervous fevers and the nervous condition. Locomotor ataxia. See Locomotor.
ATAXIC a.
Characterized by ataxy, that is, (a) by great irregularity of functions or symptoms, or (b) by a want of coordinating power in movements. Ataxic fever, malignant typhus fever. Pinel.
ATHEROMA n.
A disease characterized by thickening and fatty degeneration of the inner coat of the arteries.
ATONIC a.
Characterized by atony, or want of vital energy; as, an atonic disease.
ATROCIOUS a.
Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity, great atrocity. Revelations . . . so atrocious that nothing in history approaches them. De Quincey.
AUFKLARUNG n.
A philosophic movement of the 18th century characterized by a lively questioning of authority, keen interest in matters of politics and general culture, and an emphasis on empirical method in science. It received its impetus from the unsystematic but vigorous skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the physical doctrines of Newton…
AUTOGAMOUS a.
Characterized by autogamy; self-fertilized.
AXIOMATIC; AXIOMATICAL a.
Of or pertaining to an axiom; having the nature of an axiom; self-evident; characterized by axioms. "Axiomatical truth." Johnson. The stores of axiomatic wisdom. I. Taylor.
AZOLE n.
Any of a large class of compounds characterized by a five- membered ring which contains an atom of nitrogen and at least one other noncarbon atom (nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur). The prefixes furo-, thio, and pyrro-are used to distinguish three subclasses of azoles, which may be regarded as derived respectively from furfur…
BASEDOW'S DISEASE n.
A disease characterized by enlargement of the thyroid gland, prominence of the eyeballs, and inordinate action of the heart; -- called also exophthalmic goiter. Flint.
BASIDIOMYCETES n.
A large subdivision of fungi coördinate with the Ascomycetes, characterized by having the spores borne on a basidium. It embraces those fungi best known to the public, such as mushrooms, toadstools, etc.
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