Skip this Advertisement

A-Z Browse

  • needle biopsy (medicine)
    ...a piece of a tumour, are done if the mass is large. Biopsies obtained with visual control of an endoscope consist of small fragments of tissue, usually no larger than 5 millimetres (0.2 inch) long. Needle biopsy involves the removal of a core of tissue from a tumour mass with a specially designed needle often under imaging guidance. Alternatively, the needle can be stereotactically guided to a....
  • needle gun (military weapon)
    rifle named for its inventor, Nikolaus von Dreyse. It had a long, sharp firing pin designed to pierce the charge of propelling powder and strike the detonating material (usually mercury fulminate) located at the base of the bullet. The Dreyse rifle, invented between 1827 and 1829, was adopted by the Russian Army in 1848. It was replaced by the Mauser in 1871. ...
  • needle lace (lace)
    with bobbin lace, one of the two main kinds of lace. In needle lace the design is drawn on a piece of parchment or thick paper, cloth-backed. An outlining thread stitched onto this serves as a supporting framework, and the lace is worked with a needle and a single thread in a succession of buttonhole stitches in varying degrees of tightness and in straight lines that support further stitches. The ...
  • needle, northeasting of the (compass)
    ...needle did not point true north from all locations but made an angle with the local meridian. This phenomenon was originally called by seamen the northeasting of the needle but is now called the variation or declination. For a time, compass makers in northern countries mounted the needle askew on the card so that the fleur-de-lis indicated true north when the needle pointed to magnetic......
  • needle spire (architecture)
    In the 14th century, during the Decorated period in England, a slender, needle spire was set in from the edge of the tower, broaches disappeared, corner pinnacles became customary, and a low parapet was added around the tower’s edge, as seen in the two western spires of Lichfield cathedral....
  • needle-clawed bush baby (primate)
    The needle-clawed bush babies are classified in another genus, Euoticus. The two species live in the rainforests of west-central Africa. They feed on tree exudate, clinging upside-down to the bark of a tree by digging in their sharp-pointed clawlike nails, stabbing the bark with specialized canine and premolar teeth, and then scraping up the gum that flows out. The final genus,......
  • needle-clawed galago (primate)
    The needle-clawed bush babies are classified in another genus, Euoticus. The two species live in the rainforests of west-central Africa. They feed on tree exudate, clinging upside-down to the bark of a tree by digging in their sharp-pointed clawlike nails, stabbing the bark with specialized canine and premolar teeth, and then scraping up the gum that flows out. The final genus,......
  • needlecraft (decorative art)
    The needle-clawed bush babies are classified in another genus, Euoticus. The two species live in the rainforests of west-central Africa. They feed on tree exudate, clinging upside-down to the bark of a tree by digging in their sharp-pointed clawlike nails, stabbing the bark with specialized canine and premolar teeth, and then scraping up the gum that flows out. The final genus,........
  • needlefish (fish)
    any of the long, slim, primarily marine fishes of the family Belonidae (order Atheriniformes), found throughout temperate and tropical waters. Needlefish are adept jumpers, carnivorous in habit, and distinguished by long, slender jaws equipped with sharp teeth. They are silvery fish, with blue or green backs, and are edible. The family includes some 60 species, the largest growing about 1.2 m (4 ...
  • needlegrass (Stipa)
    any of the grasses of the genus Stipa (family Poaceae), consisting of about 150 species with a sharply pointed grain and a long, threadlike awn (bristle). In some species, such as porcupine grass (Stipa spartea), the sharp grain may puncture the faces of grazing animals....
  • needlepoint (canvas work embroidery)
    type of embroidery known as canvas work until the early 19th century. In needlepoint the stitches are counted and worked with a needle over the threads, or mesh, of a canvas foundation. Either single- or double-mesh canvas of linen or cotton is used. If needlepoint is worked on a canvas that has 16 to 20 or more mesh holes per linear inch, the embroidery is called petit point; ...
  • needlepoint (lace)
    with bobbin lace, one of the two main kinds of lace. In needle lace the design is drawn on a piece of parchment or thick paper, cloth-backed. An outlining thread stitched onto this serves as a supporting framework, and the lace is worked with a needle and a single thread in a succession of buttonhole stitches in varying degrees of tightness and in straight lines that support further stitches. The ...
  • Needles (rock formation, Utah, United States)
    The Needles has sandstone formations that include the massive red- and white-banded rock pinnacles for which the area is named, as well as the Druid and Angel arches, which are gigantic balanced rock formations, the latter reaching a height of 150 feet (45 metres). Grabens, or elongated fault blocks, have formed canyons in this region up to 300 feet (90 metres) deep and from 7 to 2,000 feet (2......
  • Needles (New Mexico, United States)
    town, San Juan county, northwestern New Mexico, U.S. Lying on the vast Navajo reservation, the town, originally called Needles, was founded in 1903 as a centre of tribal government. It served as such until 1938, when the Navajo nation established its capital at Window Rock, Arizona. The town takes its name from Ship Rock, a volcanic rock loc...
  • Needles (California, United States)
    city, San Bernardino county, southeastern California, U.S. Situated on the Colorado River (impounded [south] to form Lake Havasu), the city was founded in 1883 as a way station for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now the Santa Fe) and was named for a group of isolated needlelike peaks just across the border in Arizona. The city experiences extremely high te...
  • Needle’s Eye, The (work by Drabble)
    ...graduate school, and The Millstone (1965), the story of a woman who eventually sees her illegitimate child as both a burden and a blessing. Drabble won the E.M. Forster Award for The Needle’s Eye (1972), which explores questions of religion and morality. Her trilogy comprising The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989), and The Gates of Ivo...
  • Needles, Howard (American engineer)
    ...a single plane of cables, but these remain in one plane that fans out down the centre of the deck. The longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States is Dames Point Bridge (1987), designed by Howard Needles in consultation with Ulrich Finsterwalder and crossing the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. The main span at Dames Point is 390 metres (1,300 feet), with side spans of 200......
  • Needles, The (Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom)
    The Isle of Wight’s geology and scenery are varied. The backbone of the island is formed by a chalk ridge that extends across the entire breadth of the island, from Culver Cliff in the east to The Needles in the west. This ridge is the thickest bed of chalk in the British Isles. The Needles are three detached masses of chalk that lie off the island’s westernmost point and rise to abo...
  • Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Union of (trade union, North America)
    North American trade union formed in 1995 by the merger of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The union represents apparel workers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Headquarters are in New York City....
  • needlework (decorative art)
    North American trade union formed in 1995 by the merger of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The union represents apparel workers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Headquarters are in New York City.......
  • Neefe, Christian Gottlob (German musician)
    ...the German literary renaissance associated with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and the young Goethe and Schiller. A sign of the times was the nomination as court organist of Christian Gottlob Neefe, a Protestant from Saxony, who became Beethoven’s teacher. Although somewhat limited as a musician, Neefe was nonetheless a man of high ideals and wide culture, a man ...
  • Neel, James Van Gundia (American geneticist)
    American geneticist (b. March 22, 1915, Hamilton, Ohio—d. Feb. 1, 2000, Ann Arbor, Mich.), was a pioneer in the field of genetics; his studies provided evidence of the genetic basis of numerous diseases, including sickle-cell anemia. In the late 1940s, as acting director of field studies for the National Research Council’s Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, he led studies of the effect...
  • Néel, Louis-Eugène-Félix (French physicist)
    French physicist who was corecipient, with the Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alfvén, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970 for his pioneering studies of the magnetic properties of solids. His contributions to solid-state physics have found numerous useful applications, particularly in the development of improved computer memory units....
  • Néel temperature (physics)
    The antiferromagnetic Curie point is called the Néel temperature in honour of the French physicist Louis Néel, who in 1936 successfully explained antiferromagnetism....
  • Neʾeman, Yuval (Israeli physicist)
    Israeli nuclear physicist and politician (b. May 14, 1925, Tel Aviv, British Palestine—d. April 26, 2006, Tel Aviv, Israel), was at the centre of Israel’s space program as the founder (1983) and chairman of the Israel Space Agency and as a leader in the country’s nuclear program. Ne’eman studied engineering at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, a...
  • Ñeembucú (Paraguay)
    town, southwestern Paraguay. It lies on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, across from the mouth of the Arroyo Bermejo....
  • Neemuch (India)
    town, western Madhya Pradesh state, central India, located on a barren ridge. Handloom weaving is the major industry. Formerly a large British cantonment of Gwalior princely state, the town in 1822 became the headquarters of the combined Rājputāna–Mālwa political agency and of the Mālwa Agency in 1895. It is a road junction and distribution centre for agricultura...
  • Neenah (Wisconsin, United States)
    city, Winnebago county, east-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies on Lake Winnebago and the Fox River, just south of Appleton. The city, with adjoining Menasha to the north, forms one economic and social community. Menominee, Fox, and Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago) Indians were early inhabitan...
  • Neer, Aart van der (Dutch painter)
    Dutch painter of the Baroque period, famous for his nocturnal landscapes....
  • Neer, Aernou van der (Dutch painter)
    Dutch painter of the Baroque period, famous for his nocturnal landscapes....
  • Neer, Aernout van der (Dutch painter)
    Dutch painter of the Baroque period, famous for his nocturnal landscapes....
  • Neer, Aert van der (Dutch painter)
    Dutch painter of the Baroque period, famous for his nocturnal landscapes....
  • Neeson, Liam (British actor)
    In recent years motion picture audiences had become accustomed to seeing Irish-born actor Liam Neeson portray strong leading men—the Holocaust hero Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List (1993), the legendary Scottish clan leader in Rob Roy (1995), and the Irish revolutionary portrayed in Michael Collins (1996), to name a few—but th...
  • Neeson, William (British actor)
    In recent years motion picture audiences had become accustomed to seeing Irish-born actor Liam Neeson portray strong leading men—the Holocaust hero Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List (1993), the legendary Scottish clan leader in Rob Roy (1995), and the Irish revolutionary portrayed in Michael Collins (1996), to name a few—but th...
  • nef (tableware vessel)
    European vessel in the form of a medieval ship, often complete with rigging. Although occasionally made of Venetian glass, nefs were usually elaborately constructed of precious metals and sometimes had a hull of rock crystal, hardstone, or nautilus shell. Perhaps first used as a drinking vessel, it had, by the 14th century, become a table ornament to denote the host’s place or a container ...
  • Nef, John Ulric (American chemist)
    American chemist whose studies demonstrated that carbon can have a valence (i.e., affinity for electrons) of two as well as a valence of four, thus greatly advancing the understanding of theoretical organic chemistry....
  • NEFA (state, India)
    state of India. A mountainous area in the extreme northeastern part of the country, it is bordered by the kingdom of Bhutan to the west, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, Myanmar (Burma) and the Indian state of Nagaland to the south and southeast, and the Indian state ...
  • nefazodone (drug)
    ...antidepressants inhibit reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine in variable amounts. For example, venlafaxine is a nonselective inhibitor of the uptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Nefazodone inhibits serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake and is an antagonist at certain serotonin receptors and α1-receptors....
  • Nefelibal (work by Martínez Estrada)
    ...in the journal Nosotros (“We”) (1917). His first book of poems, Oro y piedra (1918; “Gold and Stone”), was followed by Nefelibal (1922), Motivos del cielo (1924; “Heaven’s Reasons”), Argentina (1927), and Humoresca (1929). These displayed very complex...
  • Neferirkare (king of Egypt)
    The first two kings of the 5th dynasty, Userkaf and Sahure, were sons of Khentkaues, who was a member of the 4th-dynasty royal family. The third king, Neferirkare, may also have been her son. A story from the Middle Kingdom that makes them all sons of a priest of Re may derive from a tradition that they were true worshipers of the sun god and implies, probably falsely, that the 4th-dynasty......
  • Neferkheperure Amenhotep (king of Egypt)
    king of Egypt (1353–36 bc) of the 18th dynasty, who established a new monotheistic cult of Aton (hence his assumed name, Akhenaton, meaning “One Useful to Aton”)....
  • Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti (queen of Egypt)
    queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (formerly Amenhotep IV; reigned c. 1353–36 bc), who played a prominent role in the cult of the sun god known as the Aton....
  • Nefertari (queen of Egypt)
    Of Ramses’ personal life virtually nothing is known. His first and perhaps favourite queen was Nefertari; the fact that, at Abu Simbel, the smaller temple was dedicated to her and to the goddess of love points to real affection between them. She seems to have died comparatively early in the reign, and her fine tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the Queens at Thebes is well known. Other quee...
  • Nefertem (Egyptian deity)
    in ancient Egyptian religion, youthful god associated with the lotus flower. Nefertem was an ancient god, mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce), but he became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 bce) and later. As a blue lotus he was believed to have emerged from the primeval waters. He al...
  • Nefertemu (Egyptian deity)
    in ancient Egyptian religion, youthful god associated with the lotus flower. Nefertem was an ancient god, mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce), but he became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 bce) and later. As a blue lotus he was believed to have emerged from the primeval waters. He al...
  • Nefertiti (queen of Egypt)
    queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (formerly Amenhotep IV; reigned c. 1353–36 bc), who played a prominent role in the cult of the sun god known as the Aton....
  • Nefertum (Egyptian deity)
    in ancient Egyptian religion, youthful god associated with the lotus flower. Nefertem was an ancient god, mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce), but he became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 bce) and later. As a blue lotus he was believed to have emerged from the primeval waters. He al...
  • nefesh (Judaism)
    ...can be erected on the basis of these several verses alone—a broader view must be taken. A careful examination of the biblical material, particularly the words nefesh, neshama, and ruaḥ—which are often too broadly translated as “soul” and......
  • Nefʾi (Ottoman poet)
    one of the greatest classical Ottoman poets and one of the most famous satirists and panegyrists in Ottoman Turkish literature....
  • Nefʾi of Erzurum (Ottoman poet)
    one of the greatest classical Ottoman poets and one of the most famous satirists and panegyrists in Ottoman Turkish literature....
  • Nefta (Tunisia)
    oasis town situated in southwestern Tunisia. It lies on the northwest shore of Chott El-Jarid (Shaṭṭ Al-Jarīd), a saline lake that is an important source of phosphates. It was known to the Romans as Aggarsel Nepte. Nefta has many small mosques and is an important Sufi centre, where shrines and the tombs of many local hol...
  • Nefusa (plateau, Libya)
    hilly limestone massif, northwestern Libya. It extends in a west-northeasterly arc between Al-Jifārah (Gefara) plain and Al-Ḥamrāʾ Plateau. With heights ranging from 1,500 to 3,200 feet (460 to 980 m), the plateau runs east for 120 miles (190 km) from the Tunisian border to the Kiklah Trough and then curves northeast for 93 miles (150 km), ending in hills near the Medit...
  • Negapatam (India)
    port city, east-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. It lies on the Bay of Bengal, about 250 miles (400 km) south of Chennai (Madras). An ancient port known to have traded with Europe in Greek and Roman times, it became a Portuguese and later a Dutch colony. Its influence declined with the growth of Madras. In December 2004 a large ...
  • Negapattam (India)
    port city, east-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. It lies on the Bay of Bengal, about 250 miles (400 km) south of Chennai (Madras). An ancient port known to have traded with Europe in Greek and Roman times, it became a Portuguese and later a Dutch colony. Its influence declined with the growth of Madras. In December 2004 a large ...
  • Negaprion brevirostris
    species of shark in the family Carcharhinidae. See carcharhinid....
  • Negara Brunei Darussalam
    independent Islamic sultanate on the northern coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is bounded to the north by the South China Sea and on all other sides by the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, which also divides the state into two disconnected segments of unequal size. The western segment ...
  • Negara National Park (park, Malaysia)
    park in the south-central part of the Malay Peninsula, West Malaysia, occupying 1,677 square miles (4,343 square km). Established in 1938 as King George V National Park, it consists largely of tropical rain forest and also encompasses the country’s highest mountain—Mount Tahan (7,175 feet [2,187 m])—a wide plateau, game-fish rivers, and limestone outcroppings. Wildlife includ...
  • negari (Indonesian government unit)
    ...house, in which a head woman, her sisters, their daughters, and their children lived. Several of these houses made up the clan, within which no marriage was allowed. Several clans made up the negari, the largest unit of government, roughly equivalent in size to a village. Each house was represented in the clan council by a male member....
  • negation (logic)
    ...can be analyzed as consisting of (1) usually a quantifier (“every,” “some,” or the universal negative quantifier “no”), (2) a subject, (3) a copula, (4) perhaps a negation (“not”), (5) a predicate. Propositions analyzable in this way were later called categorical propositions and fall into one or another of the following forms: Universal.....
  • negation (grammar)
    Negation in Latin was expressed by a range of special items (non, nemo, nihil, nullus, nunquam, and so on). Although some of the others survive in Romance, continuators of non are usually used for negative expression and are regularly prefixed to the verb. Nuances within negation are usually expressed by the adjunction of other items. In France, both north and south, and in......
  • negative (photography)
    photographic image that reproduces the bright portions of the photographed subject as dark and the dark parts as light areas. Negatives are usually formed on a transparent material, such as plastic or glass. Exposure of sensitized paper through the negative, done either by placing the negative and paper in close contact or by projecting the negative image onto the paper, reverses these tones and ...
  • negative acceleration stress (physiology)
    Negative acceleration stress occurs when the direction of acceleration is from feet to head. This causes a slight displacement of the internal organs in the abdomen and chest and a rush of blood to the face accompanied by the feeling of congestion. As the acceleration increases the congestion increases and throbbing pains are felt throughout the head. When the force is from 3 to 4.5 g,......
  • negative assortative mating (genetics)
    ...mating, or homogamy, exists when people choose to marry persons similar to themselves (e.g., when white marries white, tall person marries tall person); this type of selection is very common. Negative assortative mating is the opposite case, when people avoid marrying persons similar to themselves....
  • negative beta decay (physics)
    In beta-minus decay, an energetic negative electron is emitted, producing a daughter nucleus of one higher atomic number and the same mass number. An example is the decay of the uranium daughter product thorium-234 into protactinium-234:...
  • negative beta-particle decay (physics)
    In beta-minus decay, an energetic negative electron is emitted, producing a daughter nucleus of one higher atomic number and the same mass number. An example is the decay of the uranium daughter product thorium-234 into protactinium-234:...
  • negative conditioning (psychology)
    psychotherapy designed to cause a patient to reduce or avoid an undesirable behaviour pattern by conditioning the person to associate the behaviour with an undesirable stimulus. The chief stimuli used in the therapy are electrical, chemical, or imagined aversive situations. In the electrical therapy, the patient is given a lightly painful shock whenever the un...
  • negative covenant (property law)
    ...land development for a wide variety of purposes. They include affirmative covenants, which require the landowner to make payments, provide services, or render some other performance, and negative covenants, which require the landowner to refrain from doing something. Negative covenants that restrict the uses of a parcel of the land are called restrictive covenants. Typical......
  • negative easement (law)
    ...by one’s neighbours (known as an affirmative easement). Exceptionally, it is the right to prevent a landowner from doing something on his land that he would otherwise be privileged to do (known as a negative easement). Examples of affirmative easements include rights-of-way, the privilege of using land for pasture, the privilege of using a wall between two properties as a party (common) ...
  • negative electrode (electronics)
    the terminal or electrode from which electrons leave a system. In a battery or other source of direct current the anode is the negative terminal, but in a passive load it is the positive terminal. For example, in an electron tube electrons from the cathode travel across the tube toward the anode, and in an electroplating cell negative ions are deposited at the anode. Compare catho...
  • negative electron (subatomic particle)
    lightest stable subatomic particle known. It carries a negative charge, which is considered the basic unit of electric charge. The rest mass of the electron is 9.109 × 10−31 kg, which is only 11,840the mass of a proton. An electron is therefore considered nearly massless in comparis...
  • negative energy state (physics)
    ...theory of relativity. Among the new and experimentally verified results arising from this work was the seemingly meaningless possibility that an electron of mass m might exist with any negative energy between -mc2 and -∞. Between -mc2 and +mc2, which is in relativistic theory the energy of an electron......
  • negative engraving (art)
    In the negative engraving or scribing process, guide copy is printed on several sheets of plastic coated with an opaque paint, usually yellow. The scriber follows copy on the respective plates by engraving through the coating. Because arc light can pass only through the engraving scratches, the completed engravings are, in effect, negatives from which the press plates are made. The finest lines......
  • negative entropy (information theory)
    ...analogous in most communication to audio or visual static—that is, to outside influences that diminish the integrity of the communication and, possibly, distort the message for the receiver. Negative entropy may also occur in instances in which incomplete or blurred messages are nevertheless received intact, either because of the ability of the receiver to fill in missing details or to.....
  • negative eugenics (genetics)
    ...A language pertaining to reproduction and eugenics developed, leading to terms such as positive eugenics, defined as promoting the proliferation of “good stock,” and negative eugenics, defined as prohibiting marriage and breeding between “defective stock.” For eugenicists, nature was far more contributory than nurture in shaping humanity....
  • negative feedback (electronics)
    ...ball to be moved outward. This motion controlled a valve that reduced the steam being fed to the engine, thus slowing the engine. The flying-ball governor remains an elegant early example of a negative feedback control system, in which the increasing output of the system is used to decrease the activity of the system....
  • negative feedback (biology)
    ...the presence of ACTH; CAMP in turn promotes synthesis of enzymes necessary for the formation of cortisol and corticosterone. The relationship between ACTH and the adrenal cortex is an example of the negative feedback characteristic of endocrine systems; i.e., a decrease in the level of glucocorticoids circulating in the bloodstream evokes an increase in the secretion of ACTH, which, by.....
  • negative g-force (physical force)
    ...of the descent as well as by the inverted loops, barrel rolls, and banked turns that create positive gravitational forces, or g-forces, that press down upon the rider in the seat. The so-called negative g-forces create the rider’s sense of weightlessness when lifted from the seat over the peaks of hills. On most roller coasters, riders remain seated beneath a safety bar, but variations.....
  • negative identity formation (psychology)
    ...and settle easily on an available, socially approved identity. Still others resolve their crises by adopting an available but socially disapproved role or ideology. This latter option is called negative identity formation and is often associated with delinquent behaviour. Resolution of the adolescent identity crisis has a profound influence on development during later adulthood....
  • negative income tax (tax law)
    The idea of a negative income tax has been considered in the United States as a method of providing very-low-income families with a stable subsistence level of income in the form of government payments geared into the individual income tax structure. It is viewed as a possible substitute for public assistance or as an alternative to family allowances. The basic elements of this and other......
  • negative ion (chemistry)
    atom or group of atoms carrying a negative electric charge. See ion....
  • negative mysticism (mysticism)
    ...Theology and On the Divine Names, the main emphasis was on the ineffability of God (“the Divine Dark”) and hence on the “apophatic” or “negative” approach to God. Through a gradual process of ascension from material things to spiritual realities and an eventual stripping away of all created beings in “unknowi...
  • negative number (mathematics)
    ...of its central ideas had been transmitted well before that time to China and the Islamic world. Indian arithmetic, moreover, developed consistent and correct rules for operating with positive and negative numbers and for treating zero like any other number, even in problematic contexts such as division. Several hundred years passed before European mathematicians fully integrated such ideas......
  • negative option
    ...and nonfiction in its first 40 years, especially to areas where there were few bookstores. Book clubs—and similar marketing ventures patterned after them—usually use a technique called negative option, whereby the subscriber must exercise his right to refuse the offered special of the month by returning a refusal notice by mail; otherwise, the book is shipped and the subscriber......
  • negative proposition (logic)
    ...are composed of premises and conclusions that are stated or could be restated as categorical propositions. Categorical propositions may be distinguished first by their quality, either affirmative or negative. An affirmative categorical proposition asserts that all or some of a class of objects are included in another class of objects (e.g., “All whales are mammals”), while ...
  • negative reinforcement (animal training)
    Whatever its physiological basis, negative reinforcement (punishment) can induce in an animal both the inhibition of the response that produced the punishment and the avoidance of the location at which it occurred. Sometimes the tendency to show avoidance behaviour develops further with time, even without additional training. Thus, when being conditioned to discriminate between stimuli......
  • negative sentence (grammar)
    Negative sentences in Early Uralic were indicated by means of a marker known as an auxiliary of negation, which preceded the main verb and was marked with suffixes that agreed with the subject and perhaps tense. This is best reflected in the Finnic, Samoyedic, and Yukaghir languages—e.g., Finnish mene-n ‘I go,’ e-n mene ‘I don’t go,’ mene-...
  • negative space (design)
    The negative spaces between shapes and masses are also carefully considered by the artist, since they can be so adjusted as to enhance the action and character of the positive images. They can be as important to the design as time intervals in music or the voids of an architectural facade....
  • negative strand (biochemistry)
    ...of viral protein. Several large families of animal viruses, and one that includes both plant and animal viruses (the Rhabdoviridae), however, contain genomic single-stranded RNA, termed a negative strand, which is complementary to mRNA. All of these negative-strand RNA viruses have an enzyme, called an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (transcriptase), which must first catalyze the......
  • negative temperature coefficient of resistance thermistor (electronics)
    ...whose resistive properties vary with temperature. They are made of materials that have high temperature coefficients of resistance (TCR), the value that describes resistance change with temperature. Negative TCR, or NTCR, ceramics are materials whose electric resistance decreases as temperatures rise. These ceramics are usually spinels based on oxides of iron, cobalt, and manganese that exhibit...
  • Negative, The (book by Adams)
    ...system was ultimately not technical but rather expressive: it was a tool to aid in visualizing a finished photograph before the exposure was made. The first edition of his often-reprinted book The Negative was published in 1948; written for photographers and not the general reader, the book expresses Adams’s technical and aesthetic views in an uncompromising manner....
  • negative theology (philosophy)
    ...other hand, there had been built in, from the beginning, a corrective and warning, which in fact kept the internal peril of Rationalism within bounds, viz., the corrective exercised by the “negative theology” of the so-called Pseudo-Dionysius, around whose writings revolved some of the strangest events in the history of Western culture. The true name of this protagonist is, in......
  • negative transfer of training
    Negative transfer occurs when the process of solving an earlier problem makes later problems harder to solve. It is contrasted with positive transfer, which occurs when solving an earlier problem makes it easier to solve a later problem. Learning a foreign language, for example, can either hinder or help the subsequent learning of another language....
  • negatron emission (physics)
    In beta-minus decay, an energetic negative electron is emitted, producing a daughter nucleus of one higher atomic number and the same mass number. An example is the decay of the uranium daughter product thorium-234 into protactinium-234:...
  • Negeb (desert region, Israel)
    (The Southland), arid region, southern part of Israel, occupying almost half of Palestine west of the Jordan, and about 60 percent of Israeli territory under the 1949–67 boundaries. The name is derived from the Hebrew verbal root n-g-b, “to dry,” or “to wipe dry.” Triangular shaped with the apex at the south, it is bounded by the Sinai Penins...
  • Negeri Sembilan (state, Malaysia)
    state (negeri), southwestern West Malaysia (Malaya), bounded by the states of Selangor (northwest), Pahang (north), Johor (east), and Melaka (south). Its area of 2,565 sq mi (6,642 sq km) is drained by the Linggi and Mirar rivers and has a 30-mile (48-km) coastline on the Strait of Malacca....
  • Negev (desert region, Israel)
    (The Southland), arid region, southern part of Israel, occupying almost half of Palestine west of the Jordan, and about 60 percent of Israeli territory under the 1949–67 boundaries. The name is derived from the Hebrew verbal root n-g-b, “to dry,” or “to wipe dry.” Triangular shaped with the apex at the south, it is bounded by the Sinai Penins...
  • Negidal (people)
    ...mixed with the Yukaghirs created an Even-Yukaghir population that is bilingual. Other peoples related by similar ties include the Dolgan, who are a nomadic reindeer-breeding group, and the riverine Negidals, who are primarily fishermen and hunters....
  • Neglasny Komitet (political organization, Russia)
    ...With four friends, who were of noble families but motivated by liberal ideas—Prince Adam Czartoryski, Count Pavel Stroganov, Count Viktor Kochubey, and Nikolay Novosiltsev—he formed the Private Committee (Neglasny Komitet). Its avowed purpose was to frame “good laws, which are the source of the well-being of the Nation.”...
  • neglected acceleration (physics)
    ...change the osculating orbit. In spite of this fact, the deviation between the observed and the predicted positions usually grows (imperceptibly) with the square of time. This is the signature of a “neglected” acceleration, which comes from a nongravitational force. Formulas representing the smooth variation of the nongravitational force with heliocentric distance are now included....
  • negligee (clothing)
    informal gown, usually of a soft, sheer fabric, worn at home by women. When the corset was fashionable, the negligee was a loose-fitting gown worn during the rest period after lunch. Women’s dresses were also referred to as negligés after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, when the trend was toward loose ...
Skip this Advertisement

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

The Britannica Store
A-Z Browse

Image preview