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9e7f09b83c3c0b86a8eb75b7c9745403 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Dead-Hand | A Dead Hand | A Dead Hand
A Dead Hand (2009) is a crime novel set in India. The Lower River (2012) chronicles an elderly man’s return to the Malawian village where he had served as a Peace Corps volunteer in his youth. The satirical Mother Land (2017) centres on a dysfunctional…
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17f5634b26bb713a58d274283247d99a | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Deal-in-Wheat | A Deal in Wheat | A Deal in Wheat
A Deal in Wheat, short story by Frank Norris, first published serially in 1902 and then in the book A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West, published posthumously in 1903. Employing the techniques of naturalism, the five-part story examines the business of wheat speculation at the Ch... |
6efb6a470608d6c7dd10cedeb1e233f8 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Description-of-New-England | A Description of New England | A Description of New England
Among his books were A Description of New England (1616), a counterpart to his Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country (1612); The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624); and The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith in E... |
fd405181a10cda3e4b44240f373b25e5 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Different-World-American-television-program | A Different World | A Different World
It produced a spin-off program, A Different World (1987–93), set at a historically Black college and initially focusing on Bonet’s Denise character.
…(1987–88) of the television sitcom A Different World, a spinoff of The Cosby Show, and she had small parts in two minor movies before being cast in My C... |
6a53d9ccb14227b49cc1a988a710a70b | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Discourse-on-the-Sciences-and-the-Arts | A Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts | A Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts
…sciences et les arts (1750; A Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts), in which he argues that the history of human life on earth has been a history of decay.
…sciences et les arts (1750; Discourse on the Sciences and Arts) the rationalist elevation of reason above feelings. Th... |
d34f2622aeca93fb59f81c950e29e6ea | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Discussion-of-Ritual | A Discussion of Ritual | A Discussion of Ritual
In the essay “A Discussion of Ritual,” Xunzi attempts to answer this question and in the process elaborates the concept central to his entire philosophy. Xunzi asserts that man differs from other creatures in one vital respect: besides his instinctual drives, he also possesses an intelligence whi... |
ca8eedafb269fe8cd61672b2129f2e89 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Display-of-Heraldrie | A Display of Heraldrie | A Display of Heraldrie
…Armorie (1562), and John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie (1610), not only perpetuate the nonsensical natural history of olden days but are largely responsible for erroneous beliefs about heraldic charges having definite symbolic meanings and their being granted as rewards for valorous deeds—beli... |
ec0c8be1b9836d66e74e79e3b3fd5d96 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Dissertation-upon-Parties | A Dissertation upon Parties | A Dissertation upon Parties
…of England” (1730–31) and “A Dissertation upon Parties” (1733–34), both of which sought to end the old Whig–Tory disputes and to weld the disparate elements of the opposition to Walpole into a new Country Party, which would protect the independence of Parliament against the encroachments of... |
fffeaab257309199e0aa753dec592c64 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Distant-Mirror-The-Calamitous-14th-Century | A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
…years to research and write A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1978). In this book she made exceptionally vivid the historical events, personalities, and texture of life in 14th-century France, taking for her main character a typical French knight and nobleman ... |
7dcdcf84c31d7ab1c4bf40bae1125283 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Dolls-House | A Doll's House | A Doll's House
A Doll’s House, play in three acts by Henrik Ibsen, published in Norwegian as Et dukkehjem in 1879 and performed the same year. The play centres on an ordinary family—Torvald Helmer, a bank lawyer, his wife Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family,... |
1c929ab32dfd59d35b8bc94a61b4383d | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Dry-White-Season | A Dry White Season | A Dry White Season
…’N droë wit seisoen (1979; A Dry White Season; film 1989), in which a white liberal investigates the death of a black activist in police custody. His later works include Houd-den-bek (1982; A Chain of Voices), which recounts through many points of view a slave revolt in 1825; Die kreef…
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10bda878bddc0cc62b6b597c05fec004 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Face-in-the-Crowd | A Face in the Crowd | A Face in the Crowd
A Face in the Crowd, American film drama, released in 1957, that was especially noted for the performance by Andy Griffith in his movie debut.
Griffith portrayed the charismatic, but manipulative, country singer Larry (“Lonesome”) Rhodes, who is idolized by the very masses he disdains in private. P... |
27c2d29549b37081c2b488f48ce6a25f | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Fanatic-Heart | A Fanatic Heart | A Fanatic Heart
…Woman and Other Stories (1974), A Fanatic Heart (1984), Lantern Slides (1990), and Saints and Sinners (2011). She also wrote plays, screenplays for film and television, and nonfiction about Ireland. In 1999 her short study James Joyce was published to critical acclaim. She chronicled the frenetic passi... |
abfe3df12469c55721b39a780a220b00 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Fine-and-Private-Place | A Fine and Private Place | A Fine and Private Place
…Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and A Fine and Private Place (1975), the story of an author who wants artistic recognition in his own country. The critic Edmund Wilson referred to Callaghan as the most unjustly neglected writer in the English language.
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82c19bc80c096157fbaed9bb84fe19b0 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Funny-Thing-Happened-on-the-Way-to-the-Forum-by-Sondheim | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—based on comedies by the Roman playwright Plautus—opened on Broadway in 1962, with music and lyrics by Sondheim. It ran for 964 performances and won the Tony Award for best musical. Two years later, however, his…
…in a Broadwa... |
69342ebd264c7ffd2c1872420c4b895c | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-History-of-the-People-of-the-United-States-from-the-Revolution-to-the-Civil-War | A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War | A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War
…of the first chapter of A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War, 8 vol. (1883–1913). Almost immediately after publication of this first extremely popular volume in 1883, he accepted an offer to t... |
abb8ed69c7a3671a993499ed77de4f65 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-History-of-the-Work-of-Redemption | A History of the Work of Redemption | A History of the Work of Redemption
…books on other subjects, notably A History of the Work of Redemption (he had preached a series of sermons—posthumously published—on that subject in 1739), which was to be a complete theology combining biblical, historical, and systematic materials “in an entire new method.” Late in ... |
6c2698f21edf179c906ec6df5d3c1ce7 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-History-of-the-World-Conqueror | A History of the World Conqueror | A History of the World Conqueror
…opus, the Tārīkh-i jehān-gushā (A History of the World Conqueror, 2 vol., 1958), is one of the most important works of Persian historiography. Begun in 1252–53, the history includes sections on the Mongols’ two principal Muslim enemies, the Khwārezm-Shāhs (995–1231) and the Ismāʿīlīs o... |
55bd9161a6a14e54c853c8d4bc507c0f | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-History-of-Western-Philosophy | A History of Western Philosophy | A History of Western Philosophy
…the foundation into a book, A History of Western Philosophy (1945), which proved to be a best-seller and was for many years his main source of income.
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698a6760289c04a44d1d9ecf8f11632a | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Hole-in-the-Head | A Hole in the Head | A Hole in the Head
Capra’s final two films were A Hole in the Head (1959), in which Frank Sinatra starred as hotelier whose irresponsibility nearly costs him custody of his son, and Pocketful of Miracles (1961), a musical remake of Lady for a Day with Bette Davis, which failed to earn back its cost.…
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a632d0afb482d4d644c0fa211d96aba4 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-letter | A | A
A, letter that has stood at the head of the alphabet during the whole of the period through which it can be traced historically. The name of the letter in the Phoenician period resembled the Hebrew name aleph meaning “ox”; the form is thought to derive from an earlier symbol resembling the head of an ox. The letter ... |
43c1fa1bb2e998980c260cb4c8e1752d | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Letter-to-Three-Wives | A Letter to Three Wives | A Letter to Three Wives
…1949 Mankiewicz directed and wrote A Letter to Three Wives, which exemplified his signature style of intelligent and witty banter and furthered his reputation as a “literary” director. The drama centres on three married women (Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, and Jeanne Crain) who each receive a let... |
a1f00d05d715855af18b9e5aa897f6ca | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Light-for-Fools | A Light for Fools | A Light for Fools
title, A Light for Fools), Ginzburg portrayed the crises of the Italian younger generation during the fascist period. Lessico famigliare (1963; Family Sayings) is a novelistic memoir of her upbringing and career. Ginzburg’s novels of the 1970s and ’80s pessimistically explore the dissolution of family... |
29ff2f4b2deb5161e8bd12f642f2e190 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Little-Pretty-Pocket-Book | A Little Pretty Pocket-Book | A Little Pretty Pocket-Book
…in John Newbery’s children’s book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book. The book has a brief poem and an illustration depicting a game called base-ball. Interestingly, the bases in the illustration are marked by posts instead of the bags and flat home plate now so familiar in the game. The book was…... |
888fd897f328c49f989d8fce9fe2a558 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Lost-Lady | A Lost Lady | A Lost Lady
A Lost Lady, novel by Willa Cather, published in 1923, depicting the decline of the American pioneer spirit and the aridity of small-town life.
The title character, Marian Forrester, is portrayed through the adoring eyes of young Niel Herbert. He initially views Marian—the beautiful, gracious, and indomita... |
3a3065a7fef90658884d630e1d96a4f2 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Love-Supreme | A Love Supreme | A Love Supreme
…My Favorite Things (1960) and A Love Supreme (1964). Rather than merely keeping time, the drummer, through Jones’s example, became an improviser of equal importance to the lead melodic instrumentalist. After the addition of a second drummer, Rashied Ali, to the Coltrane group, Jones left in 1966 to lead... |
63c3462dfeec1cd85e96ff7911456eba | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Lucky-Life-Interrupted-A-Memoir-of-Hope | A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope | A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope
…the American Heartland (2002) and A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope (2015) documented, respectively, his childhood and his battle with cancer.
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3d3e1d9c8c941246fb60e5c94bf6e793 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Mental-Patient-as-Artist | A Mental Patient as Artist | A Mental Patient as Artist
…subject: Swiss psychiatrist Walter Morgenthaler’s A Mental Patient as Artist (1921), which provided the first monograph of an outsider artist, Adolf Wölfli, a long-term patient whose oeuvre the Surrealist writer André Breton considered one of the three or four best of the 20th century; and t... |
3948c7274466b53b15022f7a42d19ad2 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Midsummer-Nights-Dream-music-by-Mendelssohn | A Midsummer Night's Dream | A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, incidental music by German composer Felix Mendelssohn written to accompany performances of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Prussian royal court.
Mendelssohn became familiar with Shakespeare by reading German translations as a boy, and in 1827, at... |
e046e4a16af0d20ea36c404e50bd5840 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Million-Ways-to-Die-in-the-West | A Million Ways to Die in the West | A Million Ways to Die in the West
…in the comic adventure film A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014). He also adapted the screenplay for the movie as a novel. In 2016 MacFarlane provided the voice of an arrogant mouse who enters a singing competition in the animated family film Sing. He later appeared in…
…in the Se... |
cb93b2ac50e396368b13e998c9b8aa87 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Night-in-Acadie | A Night in Acadie | A Night in Acadie
…Chopin, published in her collection A Night in Acadie in 1897. A widely acclaimed, frequently anthologized story, it is set in antebellum New Orleans and deals with slavery, the Southern social system, Creole culture, and the ambiguity of racial identity.
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19dc11e417b7f887a2af71e7899fba22 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street | A Nightmare on Elm Street | A Nightmare on Elm Street
…by his own bed in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). He divorced Allison the following year.
…had his breakout hit with A Nightmare on Elm Street, which he wrote and directed. The film introduced the villian Freddy Krueger, who kills his victims by invading their dreams and is given to incongr... |
5a2e522e74ac39e4dacd9936e5d61269 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Painted-House | A Painted House | A Painted House
…his formulaic legal thrillers with A Painted House (television film 2003), the story of a farm boy from rural Arkansas who discovers a troubling secret in his small town. Other nonlegal novels followed, including Skipping Christmas (2001; film 2004 as Christmas with the Kranks), Bleachers (2003), Playi... |
63a221ad1ca1e8f298a1f3a627b64240 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Plurality-of-Worlds | A Plurality of Worlds | A Plurality of Worlds
…la pluralité des mondes (1686; A Plurality of Worlds, 1688). These charming and sophisticated dialogues were more influential than any other work in securing acceptance of the Copernican system, still far from commanding universal support in 1686. Fontenelle’s basis of scientific documentation wa... |
557bc885811b9136b4ec0c9650f54dd4 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Preliminary-Discourse-Concerning-a-Solid-Body-Enclosed-by-Processes-of-Nature-Within-a-Solid | A Preliminary Discourse Concerning a Solid Body Enclosed by Processes of Nature Within a Solid | A Preliminary Discourse Concerning a Solid Body Enclosed by Processes of Nature Within a Solid
…intra naturaliter contento dissertationis” (“A Preliminary Discourse Concerning a Solid Body Enclosed by Processes of Nature Within a Solid”). Steno cited evidence to show that when the hard parts of an organism are covered ... |
86194f77664ae4caf924b700c55f1ecc | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Project-for-Setting-an-Everlasting-Peace-in-Europe | A Project for Setting an Everlasting Peace in Europe | A Project for Setting an Everlasting Peace in Europe
His chief work, Le Projet de paix perpétuelle (1713; A Project for Setting an Everlasting Peace in Europe), exercised influence up to the 20th century. Saint-Pierre proposed a European peace based on the Peace of Utrecht and assured by a European confederation that w... |
72e6bb2559e8911629eb480a1065eaa4 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Proposal-for-the-Better-Supplying-of-Churches | A Proposal for the Better Supplying of Churches | A Proposal for the Better Supplying of Churches
…Indians, publishing the plan in A Proposal for the Better Supplying of Churches… (1724). The scheme caught the public imagination; King George I granted a charter; the archbishop of Canterbury acted as trustee; subscriptions poured in; and Parliament passed a contingent ... |
83a95e3f8eb148ff2b1ed0e3ffe67aeb | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Quiet-Place | A Quiet Place | A Quiet Place
…starred in the horror movie A Quiet Place (2018), about a young family attempting to survive in a world that has been invaded by monsters that kill at any sound. Her husband, John Krasinski, whom she married in 2010, costarred in and directed the film. In Mary Poppins Returns (2018)…
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82d476bd9096b0539746bb6716b2d267 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-River-Runs-Through-It-film-by-Redford | A River Runs Through It | A River Runs Through It
…lukewarm reviews, but Ordinary People, A River Runs Through It (1992), and Quiz Show (1994) are regarded as minor masterpieces. The latter film, which dramatized a 1950s quiz-show scandal, earned four Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director. Redford subsequently directed The... |
8d84c24acc3fa087a29d7e094793edc3 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Scandalous-Woman-and-Other-Stories | A Scandalous Woman and Other Stories | A Scandalous Woman and Other Stories
…as The Love Object (1968), A Scandalous Woman and Other Stories (1974), A Fanatic Heart (1984), Lantern Slides (1990), and Saints and Sinners (2011). She also wrote plays, screenplays for film and television, and nonfiction about Ireland. In 1999 her short study James Joyce was pub... |
f7828c73d79acb4d668bd3a7aa67e55b | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Sketch-of-the-Past | A Sketch of the Past | A Sketch of the Past
…her own childhood with “A Sketch of the Past,” a memoir about her mixed feelings toward her parents and her past and about memoir writing itself. (Here surfaced for the first time in writing a memory of the teenage Gerald Duckworth, her other half brother, touching her inappropriately when…
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3945f60a18332a3b91b43ef6e0cda827 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Stone-Desert | A Stone Desert | A Stone Desert
…and Desierto de piedra (1925; A Stone Desert)—portray rural people in their struggle against nature and adversity and their ability to endure personal hardship. In such novels as La casa de los cuervos (1916; The House of Ravens), he told tales of adventure set against historical backgrounds. At times h... |
48ed417ebbba26ec868a6a06655811e2 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Streetcar-Named-Desire-film-1951 | A Streetcar Named Desire | A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire, American film drama, released in 1951, that made Marlon Brando a movie star and helped revolutionize acting in the mid-20th century.
Adapted by Tennessee Williams from his Broadway play, the sexually charged saga centres on the marriage of Stella Kowalski (played by K... |
43463ccff73b86d8565c547c3daef0d4 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Synopsis-of-the-Astronomy-of-Comets | A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets | A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets
…astronomy, Halley published in 1705 A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets, in which he described the parabolic orbits of 24 comets that had been observed from 1337 to 1698. He showed that the three historic comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were so similar in characteristics that the... |
15dd5a9691fe76208908f1901904fbfb | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-View-in-Delft-with-a-Musical-Instrument-Sellers-Stall | A View in Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller’s Stall | A View in Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller’s Stall
…decorations with illusionistic perspective effects; A View in Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller’s Stall (1652) may possibly reflect this type of work, for it is thought to once have been part of a peep show or a perspective box. The Goldfinch (1654) is on... |
8e8a2ccbaae97a0cf717602b1cf0da59 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-View-of-the-Principal-Deistical-Writers-that-Have-Appeared-in-England-in-the-Last-and-Present-Century-with-Observations-upon-Them-and-Some-Account-of-the-Answers-that-Have-Been-Published-Against-Them | A View of the Principal Deistical Writers that Have Appeared in England in the Last and Present Century; with Observations upon Them, and Some Account of the Answers that Have Been Published Against Them | A View of the Principal Deistical Writers that Have Appeared in England in the Last and Present Century; with Observations upon Them, and Some Account of the Answers that Have Been Published Against Them
…critical compendium of Deist thought, A View of the Principal Deistical Writers that Have Appeared in England in th... |
58eab3ae6696c17a7ec101cf71370bdd | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Void | A Void | A Void
Perec’s novel La Disparition (1969; A Void) was written entirely without using the letter e, as was its translation. A companion piece of sorts appeared in 1972 with the novella Les Revenentes (“The Ghosts”; published in English as The Exeter Text [1996]), in which every word has only e as…
…such as La Dispariti... |
9ea5793684d2f2094a222802e3276df8 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Warm-December | A Warm December | A Warm December
He next helmed A Warm December (1973), a melodrama that featured Poitier as a widowed doctor who falls in love with a woman (Esther Anderson) who has sickle cell anemia. Both films were disappointments at the box office, but the comedy Uptown Saturday Night (1974) was an enormous…
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0a63dc534b4a5dae29d7f7d1ec155bf9 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Werewolf-Problem-in-Central-Russia-and-Other-Stories | A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories | A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories
…vervolka v sredney polose (1994; A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories, also published as The Sacred Book of the Werewolf), both of which won a Russian Booker Prize. Not only were his works wildly popular with young Russian readers, but they also ... |
1774ecf64934ecae064f318acbf34926 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/ABANTU-for-Development | ABANTU for Development | ABANTU for Development
ABANTU for Development, a pan-African international nongovernmental organization that trains women for leadership in sustainable development. Abantu means “people” in several African languages. ABANTU was established in 1991 in London by African women. Its vision statement focuses on recognizing... |
063010add91d9073894d56dc3901cbba | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abbevillian-industry | Abbevillian industry | Abbevillian industry
Abbevillian industry, prehistoric stone tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Pleistocene Epoch, somewhat less than 700,000 years ago. It was rec... |
4580d5d8f4b811f5cae8bb1ce05cd342 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abbott-and-Costello-Meet-Frankenstein | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)—in which they battled the famous Universal characters of Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman—is generally regarded as their best film.
…vehicle for easy humour—as in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Mel Brook... |
07737b1beb931633ee13e1dae1fb9e26 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/ABCD-system | ABCD system | ABCD system
…self-assessment of moles, using the ABCD system. ABCD stands for asymmetry, border, colour, and diameter. Moles that are asymmetrical, have irregular borders (edges) or colour, or are greater than 5–6 mm (about 1/4 inch) in diameter are suspect. Any mole that changes in size, shape, or colour should be…
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400df0ab91b8a8a37a6ff601c761d283 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abd-al-Rahim-al-Nashiri | ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al- Nashīrī | ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al- Nashīrī
…a Yemeni court tried Saudi-born ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Nashīrī in absentia for the USS Cole attack and sentenced him to death; U.S. military prosecutors filed charges against him in 2008. The U.S. proceedings were complicated by an admission by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that waterboardi... |
ede9a760775c1f57a3b56c68146284b5 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abdelazer-by-Purcell | Abdelazer | Abdelazer
Abdelazer, in full Abdelazer; or, The Moor’s Revenge, incidental music in 10 movements composed by Henry Purcell to accompany performances of a revenge tragedy of the same name (first performed 1676) by English dramatist Aphra Behn. The music dates from 1695, the last year of Purcell’s life. Although Behn’s ... |
990ce6627a341803c6fc2175a03b6777 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/abduction-extraterrestrial-hypothesis | Abduction | Abduction
“Contact events,” such as abductions, are often associated with UFOs because they are ascribed to extraterrestrial visitors. However, the credibility of the ETH as an explanation for abductions is disputed by most psychologists who have investigated this phenomenon. They suggest that a common experience known... |
625d01df9d8b074c6336baf8925bbf3b | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abhayagiri | Abhayagiri | Abhayagiri
Abhayagiri, important ancient Theravāda Buddhist monastic centre (vihāra) built by King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi Abhaya (29–17 bc) on the northern side of Anurādhapura, the capital of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at that time. Its importance lay, in part, in the fact that religious and political power were closely related, so tha... |
4e0689aca074f687381609fb95dae3d4 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/abhibhvayatana | Abhibhvāyatana | Abhibhvāyatana
Abhibhvāyatana, (Sanskrit: “total mastery over the senses”) Pāli Abhibhāyātana, in Buddhist philosophy, one of the preparatory stages of meditation, in which the senses are completely restrained. In Buddhist canons, abhibhvāyatana is divided into eight substages during which man comes to realize that ph... |
c75aa709650419c9bc33ac84a276c1fe | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abiel-Smith-School | Abiel Smith School | Abiel Smith School
…new building and became the Smith Primary and Grammar School. Owned by the city, the school had an endowment from Abiel Smith, a wealthy Boston businessman who was an early supporter of the education of black youth.
Together with the Abiel Smith School, the African Meeting House was declared a Natio... |
447183e49e308ddcff98c4fea6f29bbf | https://www.britannica.com/topic/About-This-Life | About This Life | About This Life
…Crossing Open Ground (1988) and About This Life (1998). In Horizon (2019) Lopez recounted his various travels. In addition, he authored books for young adults on natural history.
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673da46e6626eb808586376b69bd202a | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Absalom-and-Achitophel | Absalom and Achitophel | Absalom and Achitophel
Absalom and Achitophel, verse satire by English poet John Dryden published in 1681. The poem, which is written in heroic couplets, is about the Exclusion crisis, a contemporary episode in which anti-Catholics, notably the earl of Shaftesbury, sought to bar James, duke of York, a Roman Catholic c... |
c2121874762b1c4b4065df098d699547 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absentee-ownership | Absentee ownership | Absentee ownership
Absentee ownership, originally, ownership of land by proprietors who did not reside on the land or cultivate it themselves but enjoyed income from it. The term absentee ownership has assumed a derogatory social connotation not inherent in its literal meaning, based on the assumption that absentee o... |
bb172bb5166ab6323a4bf1661ec3c83d | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absolute-advantage | Absolute advantage | Absolute advantage
Absolute advantage, economic concept that is used to refer to a party’s superior production capability. Specifically, it refers to the ability to produce a certain good or service at lower cost (i.e., more efficiently) than another party. (A “party” may be a company, a person, a country, or anything... |
b615ea49789a559f1404056dcf151e8e | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absolute-ownership | Absolute ownership | Absolute ownership
…in a thing was called dominium, or proprietas (ownership). The classical Roman jurists do not state that their system tends to ascribe proprietas to the current possessor of the thing but that it did so is clear enough. Once the Roman system had identified the proprietarius (the owner), it was…
…in ... |
78e2d74527ad3c386679c970f039de3a | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absolution-Christianity | Absolution | Absolution
Absolution, in Christianity, a pronouncement of remission (forgiveness) of sins to the penitent. In both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, confession, or penance, is a sacrament. The power to absolve lies with the priest, who can grant release from the guilt of sin to sinners who are truly contrite,... |
f3274c7cba86de40f73a889974d7a918 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absolutism-political-system | Absolutism | Absolutism
Absolutism, the political doctrine and practice of unlimited centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch or dictator. The essence of an absolutist system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other agency, be it judicial, legis... |
050572823081b6eee1d1343607f14400 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/absorption-costing | Absorption costing | Absorption costing
…are known as full, or absorption, costing methods, in that the overhead rates are intended to include provisions for all manufacturing costs. Both process and job-order costing methods can also be adapted to variable costing in which only variable manufacturing costs are included in product cost. Va... |
555bf04fa51d1e63a644d4db2aaca9ec | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abstraction-Creation | Abstraction-Création | Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création, association of international painters and sculptors that from 1931 to 1936 promoted the principles of pure abstraction in art.
The immediate predecessor of the Abstraction-Création group was the Cercle et Carré (“Circle and Square”) group, founded by Michel Seuphor and Joaqui... |
6846867e3611497798bbf3fa32945027 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abu-Dhabi-National-Oil-Company | Abu Dhabi National Oil Company | Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
…in the federation through the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Abu Dhabi is responsible for about 95 percent of the country’s oil production, and production of petroleum and natural gas contributes about one-third of the nation’s GDP, even though the oil and gas sector employs onl... |
53a979f5d7c5aa22d9e08628a12a6b23 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abuk | Abuk | Abuk
Abuk, in Dinka religion, the first woman. Abuk is represented as a snake, which is also her favourite animal.
The Dinka believe that the Creator made both Abuk and Garang, the first man, out of the rich clay of the Sudan. After making them, the Creator placed Abuk and Garang in a huge pot. When the Creator opened... |
9ccbca6c9b40e8ded9a71a19426aa5d1 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abundance-and-Unemployment-Our-Future-2119191 | Abundance and Unemployment: Our Future | Abundance and Unemployment: Our Future
As described in my book Abundance, I believe that exponential technologies are driving us toward a world of ever-increasing abundance. Within the next 30 years, we will be able to meet and exceed the needs of every man, woman, and child. From there on out, I believe we are heading... |
7792ffed597cd6dde56fefbf6c2916f3 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/abus-de-droit | Abus de droit | Abus de droit
…development of the concept of abus de droit (“abuse of right”). The concept has been extensively used in situations where the defendant has employed his land in a given way in order to interfere with his neighbour’s land use. The paradigm case came from Colmar, France, in the middle of…
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2d356937ff01ac399baf02422b31d200 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Academic-Skepticism | Academic Skepticism | Academic Skepticism
The first, Academic Skepticism, arose in the Academy (the school founded by Plato) in the 3rd century bce and was propounded by the Greek philosopher Arcesilaus (c. 315–c. 240 bce), about whom Cicero (106–43 bce), Sextus Empiricus (flourished 3rd century ce), and
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c0fec8ea1917a8cf82d3f89aee596064 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Academy-of-Natural-Sciences | Academy of Natural Sciences | Academy of Natural Sciences
…1945, she volunteered at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. She began her tenure as a researcher but became the associate curator of microscopy in 1939. In 1937 she began to consolidate the academy’s diatom collection, augmenting it by collecting species in the field and by ac... |
a87974d3964f98928b4789b6a049796c | https://www.britannica.com/topic/accara | Accara | Accara
Accara, black-eyed pea fritters that are a common street food in western Africa. They are usually served with a tomato-and-onion hot sauce called kaani. The fritters are made by combining pureed black-eyed peas, onion, salt, and pepper, separating the mixture into small balls, and then frying them in coconut or... |
8a646d69f57d6e86cb83a031ad6abaa1 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/access-consciousness | Access consciousness | Access consciousness
…theory of thought being considered, A-consciousness is the concept of some material’s being conscious by virtue of its being accessible to various mental processes, particularly introspection, and P-consciousness consists of the qualitative or phenomenal “feel” of things, which may or may not be s... |
8bee2d37a186799bcc57a1159b857931 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/accessory-before-the-fact | Accessory before the fact | Accessory before the fact
…or by providing information) are accessories before the fact. Usually, the law considers all equally responsible and liable to the same punishment.
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0f4ad1952902d313fbce863c5ab240a9 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Account-of-the-Voyages-Undertaken-in-the-Southern-Hemisphere | Account of the Voyages Undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere | Account of the Voyages Undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere
…British Admiralty to compile An Account of the Voyages Undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere (1773), dealing chiefly with the voyages of exploration of Captain James Cook; but the work was severely criticized for inaccuracy and for failing to attribute escap... |
3faa1a51029b028ccb77d07bbbb4d657 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/account-receivable | Account receivable | Account receivable
Account receivable, any amount owed to a business by a customer as a result of a purchase of goods or services from it on a credit basis. The company making the sale does not receive an acceptance or promissory note (i.e., written orders or promises to pay) from the purchaser but merely enters the ... |
4ffa8fce1816123316aa8cf78eb30790 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/accrued-income | Accrued income | Accrued income
…and capricious results is “accrued income,” which is the money value of the goods and services consumed by the taxpayer plus or minus any change in net worth during a given period of time. (Tax experts commonly call this the Haig-Simons definition of income, based on work by American…
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beee65c8792ccc7c48f98f325671160f | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Achaean-people | Achaean | Achaean
Achaean, Greek Achaios, any of the ancient Greek people, identified in Homer, along with the Danaoi and the Argeioi, as the Greeks who besieged Troy. Their area as described by Homer—the mainland and western isles of Greece, Crete, Rhodes, and adjacent isles, except the Cyclades—is precisely that covered by th... |
0469bb1ab5b6a5c2941ebf1b1ece2798 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acheson-Lilienthal-Report | Acheson–Lilienthal Report | Acheson–Lilienthal Report
The resulting (Dean) Acheson–(David) Lilienthal Report called for a UN authority to survey and control all uranium deposits and ensure that atomic research was conducted for peaceful purposes only. Once controls were in place, the United States would relinquish its arsenal and scientific infor... |
0c0d90dd72082246149b160bd129bab3 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Achilles-asteroid | Achilles | Achilles
In 1906 he discovered Achilles, the first of the Trojan planets, two groups of asteroids that move around the Sun in Jupiter’s orbit: one group 60° ahead of Jupiter, the other 60° behind.
…of the predicted objects, (588) Achilles, was discovered near the Lagrangian point preceding Jupiter in its orbit. Within ... |
c0b5f76c852f6f0e304c14208d693ae8 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acmeists | Acmeist | Acmeist
Acmeist, Russian Akmeist, plural Akmeisty, member of a small group of early-20th-century Russian poets reacting against the vagueness and affectations of Symbolism. It was formed by the poets Sergey Gorodetsky and Nikolay S. Gumilyov. They reasserted the poet as craftsman and used language freshly and with int... |
a8416166b2f84a5d70ef72804fe22a24 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acoemeti | Acoemeti | Acoemeti
Acoemeti, also called Acoemetae (Medieval Latin), Late Greek Akoimetoi, monks at a series of 5th- to 6th-century Byzantine monasteries who were noted for their choral recitation of the divine office in constant and never interrupted relays. Their first monastery, at Constantinople, was founded in about 400 by... |
cc8952ea69ef5cf69fac5c6f0df86be6 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/acosmism | Acosmism | Acosmism
Acosmism, in philosophy, the view that God is the sole and ultimate reality and that finite objects and events have no independent existence. Acosmism has been equated with pantheism, the belief that everything is God. G.W.F. Hegel coined the word to defend Benedict de Spinoza, who was accused of atheism for... |
43d11574f9e871e7967315e3837388fb | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-for-the-Propagation-of-the-Gospel-in-Wales | Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales | Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales
The Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales (1650) set up a coercive authority encompassing both political and religious life, but state intervention remained largely unproductive.
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b8b981440d7c471a10cece732c500fa0 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-of-Algeciras | Act of Algeciras | Act of Algeciras
…surface, nevertheless, the convention, the Act of Algeciras, signed on April 7, 1906, appeared to limit French penetration. It reaffirmed the independence of the sultan and the economic equality of the powers, and it provided that French and Spanish police officers be under a Swiss inspector general.
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8dc0a652419320d61ae25eda42986518 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-of-Succession | Act of Succession | Act of Succession
By the Act of Succession of March 1534, subjects were ordered to accept the king’s marriage to Anne as “undoubted, true, sincere and perfect.” A second Statute “in Restraint of Annates” severed most of the financial ties with Rome, and in November the constitutional revolution was solemnized…
In March... |
74d1d0f2e013da05b29d00734621b4d3 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-of-Union-England-and-Wales-1536 | Act of Union | Act of Union
In 1536 Henry VIII’s government enacted a measure that made important changes in the government of Wales. Whereas the Statute of Wales (1284) had annexed Wales to the crown of England, the new act declared the king’s wish to incorporate Wales within…
In 1536, the Act of Union deprived Welsh of its official... |
b489ce72dc0909f1cd5bcaeff486a930 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-of-Union-Iceland-1918 | Act of Union | Act of Union
On December 1, 1918, Iceland became a separate state under the Danish crown, with only foreign affairs remaining under Danish control. Either party, however, had the right to call for a review of the treaty, and if negotiations about its renewal proved fruitless at the end…
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3aa9b459fe2c858806855b16e038ec4d | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Action-Francaise | Action Française | Action Française
Action Française, (French: “French Action”), influential right-wing antirepublican group in France during the first 40 years of the 20th century. Action Française was also the name of a daily newspaper (published from March 21, 1908, to Aug. 24, 1944) that expressed the group’s ideas.
The Action Fran... |
368cf2190a842211158661dc04eefec6 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/active-ecstasy | Active ecstasy | Active ecstasy
In active, or wandering, trances the shaman’s life functions decrease to an abnormal minimum. The soul of the shaman, it is believed, then leaves his body and seeks one of the world strata. After awakening, he relates his experiences, where he wandered, and with whom he…
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5be7018f1403c097ccd605ef07c05170 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Activision-Blizzard-Inc | Activision Blizzard, Inc. | Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Activision Blizzard, Inc., American developer and manufacturer of electronic games. The company was formed in 2008 by the merger of Activision, an entertainment software publisher that traced its roots to the original Atari game console, and Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Enter... |
1add385a5767fc5bc6edf61d30601e4f | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acto-Adicional-of-1834 | Acto Adicional of 1834 | Acto Adicional of 1834
Acto Adicional of 1834, amendment to the Brazilian constitution of 1824 that abolished some of that charter’s extremely centralist and authoritarian aspects. It was enacted as a concession to federalists and republicans who threatened to sunder the nation.
The abdication of the unpopular Brazil... |
609c945ed64202fada24c34db9518f45 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/ad-watch | Ad watch | Ad watch
Ad watch, a term used to describe efforts by the media to report on and evaluate the veracity of political advertising. Although the media have long described advertising during political campaigns, Washington Post columnist David Broder is often credited with having shaped the rise of modern-day ad watches b... |
6a0d03b2a4289fa6395e17c456fde614 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adam-Bede-fictional-character | Adam Bede | Adam Bede
Adam Bede, fictional character, an honest and respectable carpenter who is the protagonist of Adam Bede (1859) by George Eliot.
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4bd02203c77bfa20485b178a0bfeefd6 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adderall | Adderall | Adderall
, Adderall) and the drug dextroamphetamine (e.g., Dexedrine) are other stimulants that may be used to treat ADHD. These drugs may be prescribed in a short-acting form, the effects of which last about four hours, or a long-acting form, with effects lasting anywhere from six to…
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d5d8175fba64634ee4b0fe0798ff83cf | https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adelphi-University | Adelphi University | Adelphi University
Adelphi University, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Garden City, New York, U.S. Adelphi is a liberal arts college serving Long Island, with branch campuses in Manhattan and Huntington. It offers a range of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in business, nursing, social ... |
67d825eacdf39ee80f579530e901d21b | https://www.britannica.com/topic/adhan | Adhān | Adhān
Adhān, (Arabic: “announcement”), the Muslim call to Friday public worship (jumʿah) and to the five daily hours of prayer. It is proclaimed by the muezzin, a servant of the mosque chosen for good character, as he stands at the door or side of a small mosque or in the minaret of a large one. The adhān was original... |
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