Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

422 results found

education

(Encyclopedia)education, any process, either formal or informal, that shapes the potential of a maturing organism. Informal education results from the constant effect of environment, and its strength in shaping val...

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

(Encyclopedia)Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von yōˈhän vôlfˈgäng fən göˈtə [key], 1749–1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist, and scientist, b. Frankfurt. One of the great masters of world literature, his ge...

Utopia

(Encyclopedia)Utopia yo͞otōˈpēə [key] [Gr.,=no place], title of a book by Sir Thomas More, published in Latin in 1516. The work pictures an ideal state where all is ordered for the best for humanity as a whole...

Internet, the

(Encyclopedia)Internet, the, international computer network linking together thousands of individual networks at military and government agencies, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, industrial and f...

language

(Encyclopedia)language, systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species. Nothing is known of its origin, although scientists have identified a gene that clearly cont...

programming language

(Encyclopedia)programming language, syntax, grammar, and symbols or words used to give instructions to a computer. Once the program is written and has had any errors repaired (a process called debugging), it may ...

Qatar

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Qatar or Katar both: kŭˈtər, gŭ–, kətärˈ [key], officially State of Qatar, independent emirate (2015 est. pop. 2,482,000), c.4,400 sq mi (11,400 sq km), E Arabia, coextensive with the ...

nucleic acid

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Replication of strands of DNA CE5 nucleic acid, any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replica...

Guyana

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Guyana gīănˈə, –änˈ– [key], officially Co-operative Republic of Guyana, republic (2015 est. pop. 769,000), 83,000 sq mi (214,969 sq km), NE South America. It is bordered on the N by t...

censorship

(Encyclopedia)censorship, official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by...

Browse by Subject