Terminology Index A
A
Abdication : Formal surrender of power and privileges; renunciation of sovereignty.
Absolute Monopoly : It refers to a condition of the market where only one seller has total command or control over the sale of a given article. It is also called perfect monopoly. In normal circumstances such a condition does not occur.
Acupuncture: It is a Chinese medical practice that attempts to cure illness by puncturing specified areas of the skin with needles.
Adjournment : Suspension of the sitting bog a legislative body either by the Speaker or on the demand the majority of the members of the House. A House is adjourned automatically if a full quorum is not present.
Adult Franchise : Right to vote conferred on every adult, without any distinction, to elect the candidate of his or her choice.
Adultery : A voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her legal partner. It is one factor that contributes to "irretrievable breakdown " of marriage in cases of judicial separation or divorce.
Ad Valorem Duty : It refers to the duty or tax imposed on the commodity depending upon the value of the commodity.
Affidavit : A written declaration of evidence on oath for use as judicial proof (stated on faith).
Agglomeration: It is an act to collect or gather together into a cluster or mass. Firms in manufacturing or trading business with related products located in close proximity in order to reduce transport costs and other overheads.
Algorithm : A prescribed set of well defined rules or process for the solution of a problem in a series of steps
Alpha : 1. A RISC - based micropro-cessor, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and now marketed by Compaq, that can process 64 bits of data at a time.
2. A workstation, marketed by Compaq, that uses the Alpha microprocessor.
Alphanumeric Field: A data field in which alphabetic, numeric and special characters are accepted.
Alleghenies : Loyalty (of a subject to the ruler; of a member to the party).
Alien : One belonging to another country and not enjoying the rights of citizenship.
Alma Mater: Benign mother, applied by alumni to their school , college or university
Ambassador: Person of ministerial rank sent by a sovereign state on a mission or as reprenstative to a foreign country.
Amnesty : General pardon conferred on convicts, or exemption from prosecution or punishment to political and other offenders, on special occasions.
Anachronism : Chronological error, anything not in keeping with chronology; anything done or existing out of date, out of anything done or existing out of date, out of harmony with the present.
Analog Computer : A computer that represents its data in the form of a measurement (feet, degree, volts,etc) of an actual property .
Anarchy : Absence of government. Disorder. Utopian concept of perfect government on the principal that the best government on the principle that the best government governs (uses force) the least.
Antyodays: A scheme which aims at uplifting the economically weakest section of society. Rajasthan was the first State in which this scheme was introduced. Selected poorest families in a particular villages were chosen and government assistance was given to bring them up to a certain level. No longer in vogue.
Apartheid : A South African word meaning "apartness"'; hence policy of racial segregation to secure total estrangement between black and white people, colour bar against non-white or colored people. Apartheid has ceased to exist after black majority government came to power in 1994.
Appeasement : Policy of giving in to a powerful adversary, even sacrificing principles; pacifying an opponent by submitting to undue demands (originally used for Nevile Chamberlain in 1938-39).
Aristocracy : Government by political power of nobility or privileged class, nobles or all those who by birth or fortune rank above the rest of the community.
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): The component of a CPU responsible for the performance of arithmetic and logical operations.
Arithmetic Progression : It is a sequence in which each term is obtained by the addition of constant number to the preceding term, as 1,4,7,10,13 and 6,1, -4, -9, -14.
Armistice : Temporary suspension of war, a short truce, may or may not lead to peace.
Assembler : In computer terminology, it refers to the translating programme used to convert assembly language to machine language.
Associated Company : When two independant joint stock companies are connected or associated company.
Astronaut : A person engaged in or trained for space flights. This term was coined by U.S.A.
Astronomer : A person who is skilled in astronomy or who makes scientific observation of the celestial phenomena.
Asylum : Shelter, protection granted to a foreign national ; any place of refuge
Attach : Junior official attached to ambassador to advice on military, air, naval, economic or other matters.
Authorized Capitals: It refers to the maximum capital that a public limited company can raise through public subscription by sale of shares.
Autocracy: A self-moving machine or one that moves by concealed machinery, a human being acting mechanically.
Automation: A self-moving machine or one that moves by concealed machinery; a human being acting mechanically.
Autonomy: Right of limited self-government, partial self-government.