Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Theodore of Studium, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Theodore of Studium, Saint sto͞oˈdēəm [key], 759–826, Byzantine Greek monastic reformer, also called St. Theodore the Studite. As an abbot he was early exiled for opposing the marriage of Empero...

Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyĭkəlīˈyəvĭch əstrôfˈskē [key], 1823–86, Russian dramatist. Ostrovsky's first play, The Bankrupt (1847; reworked as It's a Family Affai...

ombudsman

(Encyclopedia)ombudsman ämˈbədzmən [key] [Swed.,=agent or representative], public official appointed to deal with individual complaints against government acts. The office originated in Sweden in 1809 when the ...

Słowacki, Juliusz

(Encyclopedia)Słowacki, Juliusz yo͞olˈyo͞osh slôvätsˈkē [key], 1809–49, Polish writer, one of the foremost Polish romantic poets. A revolutionist, he joined the Polish expatriates in Paris and died there ...

states' rights

(Encyclopedia)states' rights, in U.S. history, doctrine based on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to ...

voting

(Encyclopedia)voting, method of registering collective approval or disapproval of a person or a proposal. The term generally refers to the process by which citizens choose candidates for public office or decide pol...

Douglas, William Orville

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William Orville, 1898–1980, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1939–75), b. Maine, Minn. He received his law degree from Columbia in 1925 and later was professo...

Trans-Dniester Region

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Dniester Region or Transnistria, region (2004 preliminary pop. 555,000), E Moldova, between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border. A narrow territory some 120 mi (195 km) long but barely 2...

reciprocal trade agreement

(Encyclopedia)reciprocal trade agreement, international commercial treaty in which two or more nations grant equally advantageous trade concessions to each other. It usually refers to treaties dealing with tariffs....

tapir

(Encyclopedia)tapir tāˈpər [key], nocturnal, herbivorous mammal, genus Tapirus, of the jungles of Central and South America and SE Asia. The tapir is somewhat piglike in appearance; however, it is not related to...

Browse by Subject