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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



65 words match “SPONTANEOUS”

SPONTANEOUS a. 3 definitions
n, or from a native internal proneness, readiness, or tendency, without constraint; as, a spontaneous gift or proportion.
ABIOGENESIS n.
isms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also abiogeny, and opposed to biogenesis. I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of abiogenesis. Huxley, 1870.
ABIOGENOUS a.
Produced by spontaneous generation.
ACCORD n.
Voluntary or spontaneous motion or impulse to act; -- preceded by own; as, of one's own accord. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap. Lev. xxv. 5. Of his own accord he went unto you. 2 Cor. vii. 17.
ADVENTITIOUS a.
Accidentally or sparingly spontaneous in a country or district; not fully naturalized; adventive; -- applied to foreign plants.
ALKARSIN n.
A spontaneously inflammable liquid, having a repulsive odor, and consisting of cacodyl and its oxidation products; -- called also Cadel's fuming liquid.
ARCHEGONY n.
Spontaneous generation; abiogenesis.
ARTESIAN a.
ng into the earth till the instrument reaches water, which, from internal pressure, flows spontaneously like a fountain. They are usually of small diameter and often of great depth.
ARTIFICIAL a.
Cultivated; not indigenous; not of spontaneous growth; as, artificial grasses. Gibbon. Artificial arguments (Rhet.), arguments invented by the speaker, in distinction from laws, authorities, and the like, which are called inartificial arguments or proofs. Johnson. -- Artificial classification (Science), an arrangement…
ATTUNE v.
To arrange fitly; to make accordant. Wake to energy each social aim, Attuned spontaneous to the will of Jove. Beattie.
AUTOGENESIS n.
Spontaneous generation.
AUTOGENOUSLY adv.
In an autogenous manner; spontaneously.
AUTOKINESIS n.
Spontaneous or voluntary movement; movement due to an internal cause.
AUTOMATON n. 2 definitions
Any thing or being regarded as having the power of spontaneous motion or action. Huxley. So great and admirable an automaton as the world. Boyle. These living automata, human bodies. Boyle.
BREAK v.
To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag. Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out. Math. ix. 17.
CACODYL n.
Alkarsin; a colorless, poisonous, arsenical liquid, As2(CH3)4, spontaneously inflammable and possessing an intensely disagreeable odor. It is the type of a series of compounds analogous to the nitrogen compounds called hydrazines. [Written also cacodyle, and kakodyl.]
CARELESS a.
purpose; without due care; without attention to rule or system; unstudied; inconsiderate; spontaneouse; rash; as, a careless throw; a careless expression. He framed the careless rhyme. Beatie.
COAGULATION n.
like, insoluble state, not by evaporation, but by some kind of chemical reaction; as, the spontaneous coagulation of freshly drawn blood; the coagulation of milk by rennet, or acid, and the coagulation of egg albumin by heat. Coagulation is generally the change of an albuminous body into an insoluble modification.…
CONCESSION n.
ng a demand, claim, or request, and thus distinguished from giving, which is voluntary or spontaneous. By mutual concession the business was adjusted. Hallam.
CONCOURSE n.
An assembly; a gathering formed by a voluntary or spontaneous moving and meeting in one place. Amidst the concourse were to be seen the noble ladies of Milan, in gay, fantastic cars, shining in silk brocade. Prescott.
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