Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Congregationalism

(Encyclopedia)Congregationalism, type of Protestant church organization in which each congregation, or local church, has free control of its own affairs. The underlying principle is that each local congregation has...

legislature

(Encyclopedia)legislature, representative assembly empowered to enact statute law. Generally the representatives who compose a legislature are constitutionally elected by a broad spectrum of the population. While...

nonmetal

(Encyclopedia)nonmetal, chemical element possessing certain properties by which it is distinguished from a metal. In general, this distinction is drawn on the basis that a nonmetal tends to accept electrons and for...

O'Brien, Conor Cruise

(Encyclopedia)O'Brien, Conor Cruise (Donal Conor Cruise O'Brien), 1917–2008, Irish author, diplomat, and politician. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he entered the department of external affairs of Ireland i...

Lieber, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Lieber, Francis lēˈbər [key], 1798–1872, German-American political philosopher, b. Berlin. Ardently patriotic, he enlisted in the Prussian army and fought and was wounded at the battle of Waterlo...

art nouveau

(Encyclopedia)art nouveau ärˌ no͞ovōˈ [key], decorative-art movement centered in Western Europe. It began in the 1880s as a reaction against the historical emphasis of mid-19th-century art, but did not survive...

lungfish

(Encyclopedia)lungfish, common name for any of a group of fish belonging to the families Ceratodontidae, Lepidosirenidae, and Protopteridae, found in the rivers of Australia, South America, and Africa, respectively...

Kosciusko, Thaddeus

(Encyclopedia)Kosciusko or Kosciuszko, Thaddeus kŏsˌēŭsˈkō [key], Pol. Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Košciuszko, 1746–1817, Polish general. Trained in military academies in Warsaw and Paris, he offered his s...

Royal Danish Ballet

(Encyclopedia)Royal Danish Ballet, one of the oldest major ballet companies, established at the opening of Denmark's Royal Theater in Copenhagen in 1748. Its ballet school, which trains the group's dancers, has als...

Ryan, Paul Davis

(Encyclopedia)Ryan, Paul Davis, 1972–, U.S. politician, b. Janesville, Wis., grad. Miami Univ. (B.S. 1992), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015–19). A politically active, conservative Republican,...