Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

355 results found

Weimar

(Encyclopedia)Weimar vīˈmär [key], city (1994 pop. 58,807), E Thuringia, central Germany, on the Ilm River. It is an industrial, transportation, and cultural center. Manufactures include agricultural machinery, ...

breeding

(Encyclopedia)breeding, in agriculture and animal husbandry, propagation of plants and animals by sexual reproduction; usually based on selection of parents with desirable traits to produce improved progeny. In con...

Strasbourg

(Encyclopedia)Strasbourg sträzbo͞orˈ [key], Ger. Strassburg, city (1990 pop. 255,931), capital of Bas-Rhin dept., NE France, on the Ill River near its junction with the Rhine. It is the intellectual and commerci...

nationalism

(Encyclopedia)nationalism, political or social philosophy in which the welfare of the nation-state as an entity is considered paramount. Nationalism is basically a collective state of mind or consciousness in which...

song

(Encyclopedia)song, relatively brief, simple vocal composition, usually a setting of a poetic text, often strophic, for accompanied solo voice. The song literature of Western music embodies two broad classification...

classicism

(Encyclopedia)classicism, a term that, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or artistic qual...

Marshall Islands

(Encyclopedia)Marshall Islands, officially Republic of the Marshall Islands, independent nation (2015 est. pop. 53,000), in the central Pacific. The Marshalls extend over a 700-mi (1,130-km) area and comprise two m...

race

(Encyclopedia)race, one of the group of populations regarded as constituting humanity. The differences that have historically determined the classification into races are predominantly physical aspects of appearanc...

Luther, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Luther, Martin, 1483–1546, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, b. Eisleben, Saxony, of a family of small, but free, landholders. At Wittenberg the iconoclasts under Carlstadt had institut...

international language

(Encyclopedia)international language, sometimes called universal language, a language intended to be used by people of different linguistic backgrounds to facilitate communication among them and to reduce the misun...