Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

485 results found

sentence

(Encyclopedia)sentence, in criminal law, punishment that a court orders, imposed on a person convicted of criminal activity. Sentences typically consist of fines, corporal punishment, imprisonment for varying perio...

steroids

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Two examples of steroids steroids, class of lipids having a particular molecular ring structure called the cyclopentanoperhydro-phenanthrene ring system. Steroids differ from one another in th...

psychosis

(Encyclopedia)psychosis sīkōˈsĭs [key], in psychiatry, a broad category of mental disorder encompassing the most serious emotional disturbances, often rendering the individual incapable of staying in contact wi...

psychotherapy

(Encyclopedia)psychotherapy, treatment of mental and emotional disorders using psychological methods. Psychotherapy, thus, does not include physiological interventions, such as drug therapy or electroconvulsive the...

Sumerian and Babylonian art

(Encyclopedia)Sumerian and Babylonian art, works of art and architecture created by the Sumerian and Babylonian peoples of ancient Mesopotamia, civilizations which had an artistic tradition of remarkable antiquity,...

Ebola virus

(Encyclopedia)Ebola virus ēbōˈlə [key], a virus of the genus Ebolavirus, which belongs to a family (Filoviridae) of RNA viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers. The viruses, named for a river in Congo (Kinshasa) ...

Chihuahua, state, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Chihuahua chēwäˈwä [key], state, 94,831 sq mi (245,612 sq km), N Mexico, on the border of ...

Hyderabad, former state and modern city, India

(Encyclopedia)Hyderabad hīˈdərəbădˌ [key], former princely state, S central India. The former princedom of Hyderabad is now divided among the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana. The Mughal empire...

gene therapy

(Encyclopedia)gene therapy, the use of genes and the techniques of genetic engineering in the treatment of a genetic disorder or chronic disease. There are many techniques of gene therapy, all of them still in expe...

metabolite

(Encyclopedia)metabolite, organic compound that is a starting material in, an intermediate in, or an end product of metabolism. Starting materials are substances, usually small and of simple structure, absorbed by ...