Wednesday, November 29, 2006
acous-, acou-, -acoustical, -acusis-, -acusia
(Greek: hearing, listening, of or for hearing)
acouasmIn psychiatry: a nonverbal auditory hallucination, such as a ringing or hissing in the ears; acousma; also known as tinnitus.
acoubouy: Used by military ordnance, a listening device dropped by parachute onto land and water, used to detect sounds of enemy movements and transmit them to orbiting aircraft or land stations.
acouesthesia: The sense of hearing; auditory perception."You can hear cow bells but you can't hear cow horns.—Evan Esar"We hear what we listen for.—Anonymous"A good listener is one who can give you his full attention without hearing a word you say. "—Anonymous
acoumeter: An instrument used for estimating the power or extent of the sense of hearing before the introduction of audiometers. Variant spellings include these words: acouometer, acoumeter, acousmeter, acousmetric, acousmometric, acoumetry, and acoumetric.
acouophone: An obsolete term for an electric hearing aid.
acouophonia: "Auscultatory percussion" or the act of listening to sounds produced within the body; especially, the chest and abdomen, as a means of detecting evidence of disorders or pregnancy
acousia: This is now spelled acusis.
acousma: A simple auditory hallucination, such as ringing or buzzing sounds "in the ears"; also acouasm.
acousmata: Things received (heard) on authority; a technical word for a school of philosophy.
acousmatagnosis: In psychology, an abnormal inability to understand spoken words and to recognize meaningful sounds.
acousmatamnesia: 1. Failure of the memory to call up the images of sounds.
2. The inability to remember certain sounds.
acousmatic: A professed hearer, a class of scholars under Pythagoras, who listened to his teachings, without inquiring into their inner truths or basis.
acoustic, acoustical, acoustically: Pertaining to the sense of hearing; adapted to aid hearing; the science of audible sounds.
acoustic agraphia: The inability to write from dictation (from what is heard).
acousticate: To deny that one has been correctly heard even when one is painfully aware that there has been no mistake, this denial being often supported by the hasty fabrication of a new utterance, similar in sound to the original, but more agreeable in sense."I quickly acousticated 'fatuous ass' into 'anfractuous mass,' and nobody noticed a thing."—In a Word, edited by Jack Hitt; as quoted from Richard Tristman, professor.
acoustic hypoesthesia (hypoacusis): Partial loss of hearing.
acoustician: A specialist in acoustics.
acoustico: facialRelating to both the eighth (auditory) and seventh (facial) cranial nerves.
acousticomotor: A motor response to sound.acousticonAn instrument for helping the hearing impaired to hear.
acousticopalpebral: Relating to both the acoustic part of the eighth cranial nerve and the eyelids. The orbicularis oculi muscle, which closes the eyelids, is innervated by the seventh (facial) nerve.
acousticophobia, akousticophobia: An abnormal fear of hearing noises in general or specific noises or sounds. This phobia goes beyond just being startled by sudden loud noises. Some people fear specific noises, such as whistling, balloons popping, or sonic booms.
acoustics: 1. The science of sound and the phenomena of hearing.
2. In physics, the science and study of sound, including its production, transmission, and effects. 3. In architecture: a. The sum of the qualities, as absence of echo or reverberation, that determine the value of a room, enclosure, or auditorium with respect to distinct hearing.
b. The science of planning and building an enclosure so that sound will be perfectly transmitted within it.
4. In psychology: the part of psychology dealing with hearing. Acoustics is usually construed as a singular noun, except in the sense with reference to the science of sound qualities for buildings as in "3.a" above. acoustimeterA portable electronic device for measuring noise levels, especially those of traffic.acoustoelectric effectIn electronics, the generatioin of a DC voltage in a crystal or in a metallic material, due to acoustic waves traveling along the surface of the material.
acoustoelectronics: The use of acoustic energy to create electromagnetic waves, usually with crystals or metals that react when bombarded with acoustic waves, and the processing of such waves prior to reproduction of the original sound.
acoustogram, acoustigram: The graphic tracing of the curves, delineated in frequencies per second and decibel levels, of sounds produced by motion of a joint. Applied to the knee joint, an acoustogram will show the sound of the moving semilunar cartilages, the moving contact between the articular surfaces of the femur and tibia, and the circulation of the synovia.
acousto-optics, acousto-optic, acousto-optical, acousto-optically: The science and technology of the interactions between sound waves and light waves passing through solid materials, especially as applied to the modulation and deflection of laser beams by ultrasonic waves; important in laser and holographic technologies.
acoutometer: An instrument for measuring the level of sounds.
acusis: 1. The ability to perceive sounds normally; normal hearing.
2. Hearing, used in combination to denote a specified kind of hearing, as in presbyacusis, hypoacusis, etc.
acro-, acr-
(Greek: high, highest, highest point; top, tip end, outermost; extreme; extremity of the body)
acroagnosia: Lack of sensory recognition of a limb.
acroagnosis: Lack of sensory recognition of a limb (arms and/or legs); also, acragnosis.
acroanesthesia: Loss of sensation in the extremities; such as the hands, fingers, toes, and feet.
acroarthritis: Arthritis affecting the extremities (hands or feet).
acroasphyxia: 1. An obsolete term for acrocyanosis.
2. Neurosis marked by asphyxia of the extremities.
3. Impaired digital circulation, possibly a mild form of Raynaud’s disease, marked by a purplish or waxy white color of the fingers, with subnormal local temperature and paresthesia. Also known as “dead fingers”, or “waxy fingers”.
acroataxia: Ataxia affecting the distal portion of the extremities; such as, hands and fingers, feet, and toes.Ataxia is the inability to coordinate muscle activity during voluntary movement, so that smooth movements occur.
acrobat, acrobatic: A performer on the trapeze, tightrope, etc.
acroblast: A body in the spermatid from which arises the acrosome.
acrobrachycephaly: A condition resulting from fusion of the coronal suture, causing abnormal shortening of the anteroposterior diameter of the skull.
acrobryous: Growing only at the tip.
acrobystitis: Inflammation of the prepuce (foreskin).
Acrocanthosaurus: A “high-spined lizard” from Early Cretaceous Oklahoma , Utah, and Texas, USA. Named by U.S paleotologists John Willis Stovall and Wann Langston, Jr. in 1950.
acrocarpous: Bearing fruit at the end of the stalk, as some mosses.
acrocentric: A type of chromosome having the centromere near one end of the replicating chromosome, so that one arm is much longer than the other.
acrocephalia, acrocephalic, acrocephalous, acrocephaly: Denoting a head that is pointed and conelike; also known as, oxycephaly, oxycephalous.
aesth-, esth-, aesthe-, esthe-, aesthesio-, esthesio-, aesthesia-, -esthesia
(Greek: feeling, sensation, perception)
aesthacyte: A sensory cell of primitive animals such as sponges.
aesthesia, esthesia: The ability to feel sensations; perception.
aesthesic, esthesic: A reference to the mental perception of sensations.
aesthesiogenic: Producing or causing sensation.
aesthesiometer: An instrument for the purpose of determining the degree of tactile sensibility possessed by the patient.
aesthesis: The perception of the external world by the senses.
aesthesodic: Of nerves that provide a path for sensory impulses; conveying sensations from the external organs to the brain or nerve center.
aesthetasc: An olfactory receptor on the small antennae of some crustaceans; such as, Daphnia (water fleas, some species of which are commonly used as food for aquarium fish).
aesthete, esthete: 1. A person who is highly sensitive to art and beauty.
2. One who has an acute delight in the beauty of color, line, sound, and texture with a violent distaste for the ugly, shapeless, and discordant.
3. A person who artificially cultivates artistic sensitivity or makes a cult of art and beauty.
aesthetes, esthetes: A reference to sense organs or the plural of esthete.
alcoholo-, alcohol-, alcoho-
(Arabic > Latin: alcohol, originally an "essence or very fine powder", from Arabic al-kuhl which is from al-, "the", and kohl or kuhl, "antimony sulfide" )
alcholimetric: A reference to a device, called a alcoholometer, that measures the quantity of alcohol contained in a liquid.
alcholizer: An alcohol breath-test screening instrument; a breathalyzer with an analyzer cell used in police units worldwide to check drivers suspected of excessive drinking.
alcholometrical: A reference to the use of an alcoholometer.
alcogel: A gelatinous precipitate from a colloidal solution in alcohol.
alcohol: 1. A colorless, volatile, pungent liquid; synthesized or derived from fermentation of sugars and starches, it can be burned as fuel, is used in industry and medicine, and is the intoxicating element of whiskey, wine, beer, and other fermented or distilled liquors. It is also called "ethyl alcohol".
2. Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturated hydrocarbons, and include ethanol and methanol.
alcoholate: A tincture or other preparation containing alcohol.
alcoholature: An alcoholic tincture prepared with fresh plants.
alcoholemia, hyperalcoholemia: The presence of ethanol in the blood.
alcohol-ether: A chemical compound used in shampoos, bubble baths, body wash, liquid soaps.
alcohol fuel: A motor fuel of gasoline blended with 5-25% of amhydrous ethyl alcohol; used particularly in Europe; gasohol.
alcoholic: 1. Relating to, containing, or produced by alcohol.
2. One who suffers from alcoholism.
3. One who abuses or is dependent upon alcohol.O God! That men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains.—Cassio, in Othello by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)alcoholicaSpanish word for alcohol.
alcoholicity: The degree of alcoholic content.
alcoholimeter: A device, such as a form of hydrometer, that measures the quantity of alcohol contained in a liquid.
alcoholism: 1. Chronic alcohol abuse, dependence, or addiction; chronic excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages resulting in impairment of health and/or social or occupational functioning, and increasing adaptation to the effects of alcohol requiring increasing doses to achieve and sustain a desired effect; specific signs and symptoms of withdrawal usually are shown when one stops such drinking.
2. "Alcohol dependence" (currently the preferred term); "alcohol addiction". The terms refer to a variety of disorders associated with the repetitive consumption of alcohol, usually over a long period of time, in amounts that the drinker is unable to handle physiologically, emotionally, or socially.People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.—Ann Landers
andro-, andr-, -ander, -andry
(Greek: man, men, male, masculine; also, stamen or anther as used in botany)
andragogy, andragogue: 1. The methods or techniques used to teach adults. Mistakenly used to refer to adult education for both male and female learners. “Mistakenly” because andro, -andra- refers only to males.
2. Another erroneous definition is, the art and science of helping adults learn.
andranatomy: 1. The dissection of the male body.
2. The physical structure of the male body.
andriatry, andriatrics: 1. Medical science relating to the treatment of diseases of male genital organs and of men in general.
2. The branch of medicine dealing with diseases of men; such as, those of the male genitalia.
andric: Male, like a male, male characteristics.
andrium: The male portion of a flower.
androblastoma: A rare, benign tumor of the testis that histologically resembles the fetal testis, with varying proportions of tubular and stromal elements; the tubules contain Sertoli cells, which may cause feminization.
androcentric, androcentricity: 1. Dominated by or emphasizing masculine interests or points of view; as an androcentric society.
2. Having a man, or the male, as the center of importance.The four stages of man are: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and finally obsolescence.—Art LinkletterandrocephalousHaving a man’s head (upon an animal’s body).
androchorous, androchory, androchore: Dispersed by the agency of man.
androconium, androconial: Scales on the wings of certain male Lepidoptera (butterflies) from which the attractive scent of the male is diffused.
androcracy, androcratic: The political rule by men or males; male supremacy.
androcyte: Male sex cell, especially of an immature stage; spermatid.
philander, philanderer: 1. To carry on a sexual affair, especially an extramarital affair, with a woman one cannot or does not intend to marry.
2. To engage in many love affairs, especially with a frivolous or casual attitude.
3. Philanderer actually means "a lover of men" or of "one's husband", but a mistake was made in the adoption from the Greek and a different meaning was applied (according to David Muschell.)
polyandrous, polyandry: 1. A reference to a female who mates with several males; having more than one husband or having several husbands.
2. Literally having many male sexual partners.
3. In botany, having numerous stamens.
protandrous, protandry, protandric: The condition of a hermaphrodite in which the male portion develops first or which is first male, and later sex reversed to female.
2. Said of a flower in which the pollen matures before the stigma is receptive.
proterandrous, proterandry: 1. In botany, having the stamens or male organs mature before the pistil or female organ.
2. In zoology, a hermaphrodite animal; or a colony of zooids, having the male organs, or individuals, sexually mature before the female.
pseudandrous, pseudandry: Use of a masculine name by a woman as a pseudonym
angio-, angi-, -angium
(Greek > Latin: [receptacle], vessel, often a blood vessel; "covered by a seed or vessel", a seed vessel; a learned borrowing from Greek meaning "vessel", "container")
adenoangiosarcoma: An angiosarcoma involving gland structures.
anangioid: Seemingly without blood vessels.
anangioplasia, anangioplastic: 1. The imperfect vascularization (formation of new blood vessels) of a part due to poorly formed or unformed blood vessels.
2. Imperfect vascularization of a part due to nonformation of vessels, or vessels with inadequate caliber (diameter of a hollow tubular structure).
androgametangium (antheridium [s], antheridia [pl]): 1. A male reproductive structure producing gametes, occurring in ferns, mosses, fungi, and algae.
2. The male sex organ of spore-producing plants; produces antherozoids; equivalent to the anther in flowers.
angialgia, angialgistic: Pain in a blood vessel.
angiasthenia: Instability or loss of tone in the vascular system.
angiectasia: Dilation of a lymphatic or blood vessel.
angiectasis, angioectatic: Abnormal, usually gross dilatation and often lengthening of a blood or lymphatic vessel.
angiectatic: 1. Marked by the presence of dilated blood vessels.
2. A reference to or characterized by angiectasis.
angiectid: An abnormal intradermal venous dilatation, consisting of a circumscribed conglomerate mass of venules, which causes a frequently tense and tender elevation of the skin.
angiectomy: 1. The excision or resection of a vessel.
2. Excision of all or part of a blood vessel; also known as, arteriectomy or a venectomy.
angiectopia, angiectopic: 1. An abnormal position or course of a vessel.
2. Displacement or an abnormal location of a blood vessel.
angiitis, angiitides: Inflammation of a blood or lymph vessel.
angina: 1. Any of various diseases or conditions characterized by painful or cramping spasms.
2. Any attack of painful spasms characterized by sensations of choking or suffocating.
3. Chest pain due to an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle. The chest pain of angina is typically severe and crushing. There is a feeling just behind the breastbone (the sternum) of pressure and suffocation.
4. Any spasmodic, choking, or suffocating pain.
5. An old term for a sore throat.
anginal: 1. Angina pectoris.
2. A condition, such as severe sore throat, in which spasmodic attacks of suffocating pain occur.
arena [harena], areni-
(Latin: harena; sand, sandy place, sea-shore; place of combat [literally, "place strewn with sand"])
arena: 1. An indoor or outdoor area, surrounded by seating for spectators, where shows or sports events take place.
2. A group of adjoining mating territories of a species.arenaceoA prefix that can be attached to other words with the meaning of sandy, mixed with sand; as with arenaceo-argillaceous: of the nature of sandy clay.
arenaceous: 1. Used to describe rocks or deposits that are composed of sand grains or have a sandy texture.
2. A reference to plants that grow best in sandy soil.
3. Derived from or containing sand; having the properties of sand; growing in sand; sandy.
4. Resembling sand in texture, sandy, or gritty.
arenavirus: A reference to the dense granules resembling sand inside their virion.
arenicole: 1. Living or growing in sand.
2. Any organism that thrives in sandy areas.
arenicolite: A worm-hole made originally in sand and preserved in a sandstone rock.
arenicolous: Occurring or growing and developing in sandy areas.
arenilitic: Of or pertaining to sandstone.
arenoid: 1. Like or similar to sand.
2. Resembling grains of sand.
auto-, aut-
(Greek: self, same, spontaneous; directed from within)
autacoid, autacoidal: An organic substance formed by cells of an organ and carried by the circulatory system to a remote site where it affects another organ.
autaesthesy, autesthesy: Self-consciousness.
autagonistophilia: A sexual perversion in which sexual arousal and orgasm are contingent upon displaying one’s self in a live show, i.e. being observed performing on stage or on camera. The observer’s condition (if the stage or camera performance by the partner is a necessity for sexual arousal) is termed scoptophilia, [scopophilia], not voyeurism.—Psychiatric Dictionary, 7th ed., by Robert J. Campbell]
autantonym: A word that means its opposite.An example is the word fast, which when referring to a fast runner means a runner who runs rapidly or swiftly; but when it refers to a fast color, it means a color that doesn't run at all.
autarcesiology: The scientific study of natural immunity.
autarcesis: Natural immunity.
autarch: An absolute ruler; autocrat; a tyrant.
autarchy: 1. Absolute sovereignty, despotism.
2. Self-government; an autocratic government by one person with unlimited authority over others.
autarkist: Someone who rules a nation that has a policy of economic independence.
autarky, autarkic, autarkical: 1. The condition of self-sufficiency; especially, economic, as applied to a nation.
2. A national policy of economic independence.
autassasinophilia: Stage-managing one’s own murder, reported as an extreme form of masochism.
autechoscope: An instrument for self-auscultation.
autecology, autoecology, autecological, autoecological: 1. The ecology of an individual organism or species.
2. The study of the ecology of an individual plant or species; the opposite of synecology.
autemesia: 1. Idiopathic or functional vomiting.
2. Vomiting that is self-induced by provoking the gag reflex.
3. Vomiting induced by autosuggeston, as observed in certain mental patients.
autism: 1. Mental introversion in which the attention or interest is fastened on the patient's own ego; a self-centered mental state from which reality tends to be excluded.
2. A mental disorder characterized by severely abnormal developments of social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
3. A tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires.Affected individuals may adhere to inflexible, nonfunctional rituals or routine. They may become upset with even trivial changes in their environment. They often have a limited range of interests but may become preoccupied with a narrow range of subjects or activities. They appear unable to understand others' feelings and often have poor eye contact with others.Unpredictable mood swings may occur. Many demonstrate stereotypical motor mannerisms; such as, hand or finger flapping, body rocking, or dipping. The disorder is probably caused by organically based central nervous system dysfunction, especially in the ability to process social or emotional information or language.
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