Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

291 results found

Bryant, Kobe

(Encyclopedia)Bryant, Kobe brīˈənt [key], 1978–2020, American basketball player, b. Philadelphia. The ...

adolescence

(Encyclopedia)adolescence, time of life from onset of puberty to full adulthood. The exact period of adolescence, which varies from person to person, falls approximately between the ages 12 and 20 and encompasses b...

breeding

(Encyclopedia)breeding, in agriculture and animal husbandry, propagation of plants and animals by sexual reproduction; usually based on selection of parents with desirable traits to produce improved progeny. In con...

octopus

(Encyclopedia)octopus, cephalopod mollusk having no shell, eight muscular arms or tentacles, a pouch-shaped body, and two large, highly developed eyes. The prey (crabs, lobsters, and other shellfish) is seized by t...

Levine, James

(Encyclopedia)Levine, James Lawrence, 1943–2021, American conductor, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. . Levine’s parents were both performers; his father had been a bandleade...

Mo Yan

(Encyclopedia)Mo Yan, 1955–, Chinese novelist, pen name of Guan Moye, b. Shandong prov. Mo is one of contemporary China's most prolific and popular writers. He left school in the fifth grade and did farm and fact...

Madonna

(Encyclopedia)Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone) mədŏnˈə, chĭkōˈnē [key], 1958–, American p...

Sanger, Margaret Higgins

(Encyclopedia)Sanger, Margaret Higgins, 1879–1966, American leader in the birth control movement, b. Corning, N.Y. Personal experience and work as a public-health nurse, much of it on New York City's Lower East S...

anxiety

(Encyclopedia)anxiety, anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unc...

extroversion and introversion

(Encyclopedia)extroversion and introversion, terms introduced into psychology by Carl Jung to identify opposite psychological types. Jung saw the activity of the extrovert directed toward the external world and tha...