Algorithm
A finite set of unambiguous instructions that, given some set of initial conditions, can be performed in a prescribed sequence to achieve a certain goal and that has a recognizable set of end conditions.
Ambulatory
Capable of walking; not bedridden
Amortize
- To liquidate (a debt, such as a mortgage) by installment payments or payment into a sinking fund.
- To write off an expenditure for (an asset, especially an intangible one, such as a patent) by prorating over a certain period, usually the expected duration of the asset’s benefit.`
Catalyst
A substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process.
2. One that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences:
countervail
To act against with equal force; counteract.
2. To compensate for; offset.
debase
To lower in character, quality, or value; degrade.``
demarcation
- The setting or marking of boundaries or limits.
2. A separation; a distinction: a line of demarcation between two rock strata.
depose
. To remove from office or power.
b. To dethrone.`
diminution
The act or process of diminishing; a lessening or reduction.
b. The resulting reduction; decrease.
2. Music Statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration, usually one-half, of the original.
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emasculate
To castrate.
2. To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken.
enmesh
To entangle or catch in or as if in a mesh. `
extenuate
To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.
2. To fix firmly or securely:
inert
Incapable of moving or acting: “[Some patients] lingered, unable to breathe on their own, inert and unresponsive even to the most noxious stimulus” (Gary Greenberg).
b. Sluggish in action or motion; lethargic. See Synonyms at inactive.
mutability
Capable of or subject to change or alteration.
b. Prone to frequent change; inconstant: mutable weather patterns.
peripatetic
dj.
1. Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot.
2. Peripatetic Of or relating to the philosophy or teaching methods of Aristotle, who conducted discussions while walking about in the Lyceum of ancient Athens.
n.
1. One who walks from place to place; an itinerant.
2. Peripatetic A follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.
provocation
- The act of provoking or inciting.
2. Something that provokes.
ratify
To approve and give formal sanction to; confirm:
retrograde
. Moving or tending backward: a retrograde flow.
- Opposite to the usual order; inverted or reversed: the retrograde form of the melody.
- Reverting to an earlier or inferior condition:
sedentary
Characterized by or requiring much sitting: a sedentary job.
- Accustomed to sitting or to taking little exercise.
- Remaining or living in one area; not migratory: sedentary caribou herds.
- Attached or rooted; sessile: sedentary marine organisms.
somnambulist
See sleepwalking.
stasis
- Slowing; stoppage: bacteriostasis.
2. Stable state: homeostasis.
truncate
- To shorten or reduce: The script was truncated to leave time for commercials. See Synonyms at shorten.
- To shorten (a number) by dropping one or more digits after the decimal point.
- To replace (the edge of a crystal) with a plane face.
adj. - Appearing to terminate abruptly, as a leaf of a tulip tree or a coiled gastropod shell that lacks a spire.
- Truncated.
ubiquitous
Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent.
vacillate
To be unable to choose between different courses of action or opinions; waver: She vacillated about whether to leave.
- To change between one state and another; fluctuate: The weather vacillated between sunny and rainy.
- Archaic To sway from one side to the other.
