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immigration

(Encyclopedia)immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, al...

alien

(Encyclopedia)alien, in law, any person residing in one political community while owing allegiance to another. A procedure known as naturalization permits aliens to become citizens. Each nation establishes conditio...

acids and bases

(Encyclopedia)acids and bases, two related classes of chemicals; the members of each class have a number of common properties when dissolved in a solvent, usually water. Another theory that provides a very broad ...

skyscraper

(Encyclopedia)skyscraper, modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States. By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human h...

mass extinction

(Encyclopedia)mass extinction, the extinction of a large percentage of the earth's species, opening ecological niches for other species to fill. There have been at least ten such events. The five greatest were thos...

horror

(Encyclopedia)horror or horror story, literary genre in which an eerie, tense, often suspenseful atmosphere typically builds to the discovery of something repugnant, such as cannibalism, incest, or the killing of c...

Reagan, Ronald Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Reagan, Ronald Wilson rāˈgən [key], 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and spo...

organ

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Organ organ, a musical wind instrument in which sound is produced by one or more sets of pipes controlled by a keyboard, each pipe producing only one pitch by means of a mechanically produced ...

Canadian literature, English

(Encyclopedia)Canadian literature, English, literary works produced in Canada and written in the English language. The essayist Northrop Frye is noted for his systematic classification of literature, presented in...

periodical

(Encyclopedia)periodical, a publication that is issued regularly. It is distinguished from the newspaper in format in that its pages are smaller and are usually bound, and it is published at weekly, monthly, quarte...