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D'Annunzio, Gabriele

(Encyclopedia)D'Annunzio, Gabriele gäbrēĕˈlā dän-no͞onˈtsyō [key] 1863–1938, Italian poet, novelist, dramatist, and soldier, b. Pescara. He went to Rome in 1881 and there began his literary career. Consi...

Spielberg, Steven

(Encyclopedia)Spielberg, Steven, 1946–, American film director, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. Spielberg began his career as a television director, admired for his understanding portrayal of human character. His film Jaws ...

dictionary

(Encyclopedia)dictionary, published list, in alphabetical order, of the words of a language. In monolingual dictionaries the words are explained and defined in the same language; in bilingual dictionaries they are ...

Anatolian languages

(Encyclopedia)Anatolian languages ănˌətōˈlēən [key], subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see The Indo-European Family of Languages, tableIndo-European, table); the term “Anatolian languages...

parallax

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The trigonometric parallax of a star, expressed by the angle θ, is a measure of its apparent motion against the background of more distant stars as a result of the earth's motions in its orbit...

Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von hŭmˈbōlt, Ger. älĕksänˈdər frīˈhĕr fən ho͝omˈbôlt [key], 1769–1859, German naturalist, inventor, explorer, and author, the most eminent scientist of ...

council, ecumenical

(Encyclopedia)council, ecumenical ĕkˌyo͞omĕnˈĭkəl [key] [Gr.,=universal], in Christendom, council of church leaders, the decisions of which are accepted by some segment of the church as authoritative, also c...

aluminum

(Encyclopedia)aluminum ălˌyo͞omĭnˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Al; at. no. 13; at. wt. 26.98154; m.p. 660.37℃; b.p. 2,467℃; sp. gr. 2.6989 at 20℃; valence +3. Aluminum is a silver-white...

Swiss literature

(Encyclopedia)Swiss literature. The literature of Switzerland is written in German, French, Italian, and Romansh, with German predominating. The extensive literature in Romansh dialect (see Rhaeto-Romanic) is littl...

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