(n.) An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument fitted to the mechanism of a particular lock and operated by turning in its place.
(n.) An instrument which is turned like a key in fastening or adjusting any mechanism; as, a watch key; a bed key, etc.
(n.) That part of an instrument or machine which serves as the means of operating it; as, a telegraph key; the keys of a pianoforte, or of a typewriter.
(n.) A position or condition which affords entrance, control, pr possession, etc.; as, the key of a line of defense; the key of a country; the key of a political situation. Hence, that which serves to unlock, open, discover, or solve something unknown or difficult; as, the key to a riddle; the key to a problem.
(n.) That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position.
(n.) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
(n.) The last board of a floor when laid down.
(n.) A keystone.
(n.) That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
(n.) A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock.
(n.) A bar, pin or wedge, to secure a crank, pulley, coupling, etc., upon a shaft, and prevent relative turning; sometimes holding by friction alone, but more frequently by its resistance to shearing, being usually embedded partly in the shaft and partly in the crank, pulley, etc.
(n.) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit.
(n.) A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four," "flat seven," etc. Scales and tunes of every variety are made from the tones of a key.
(n.) The fundamental tone of a movement to which its modulations are referred, and with which it generally begins and ends; keynote.
(n.) Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
(v. t.) To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
Example Sentences:
(1) Community involvement is a key element of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach, and thus an essential topic on a course for managers of Primary Health Care programmes.
(2) A key way of regaining public trust will be reforming the system of remuneration as agreed by the G20.
(3) Instead, the White House opted for a low-key approach, publishing a blogpost profiling Trinace Edwards, a brain-tumour victim who recently discovered she was eligible for Medicaid coverage.
(4) The presence of a few key residues in the amino-terminal alpha-helix of each ligand is sufficient to confer specificity to the interaction.
(5) The key warning from the Fed chair A summary of Bernanke's hearing Earlier... MPs in London quizzed the Bank of England on Libor.
(6) "Seller reports are key to identifying bad buyers and ridding them from our marketplace," says eBay.
(7) It is suggested that the low-density lipoprotein receptors in human fetal liver may play a key role in the regulation of the serum cholesterol levels during gestation.
(8) A key component of a career program should be recognition of a nurse's needs and the program should be evaluated to determine if these needs are met.
(9) As novel antibody therapeutics are developed for different malignancies and require evaluation with cells previously uncharacterized as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) targets, efficient description of key parameters of the assay system expedites the preclinical assessment.
(10) Meanwhile, Hunt has been accused of backtracking on a key recommendation in the official report into Mid Staffs.
(11) The safe motherhood initiative demands an intersectoral, collaborative approach to gynecology, family planning, and child health in which midwifery is the key element.
(12) Acetylcholinesterase is a key enzyme in cholinergic neurotransmission for hydrolyzing acetylcholine and has been shown to possess arylacylamidase activity in addition to esterase activity.
(13) If Lagarde had been placed under formal investigation in the Tapie case, it would have risked weakening her position and further embarrassing both the IMF and France by heaping more judicial worries on a key figure on the international stage.
(14) Four goals, four assists, and constant movement have been a key part of the team’s success.
(15) Mechanosensitive ion channels may play a key role in transducing vascular smooth muscle (VSM) stretch into active force development.
(16) But Abaaoud, the man thought to be a key planner for the group behind the Paris attacks, boasted to a niece that he had brought around 90 militants back to Europe with him.
(17) Key therapeutic questions are whether beta-lactams can safely replace aminoglycosides for the treatment of gram-negative pneumonia, and whether monotherapy or aminoglycoside and beta-lactam combination antibiotic treatment is superior.
(18) Teaching procedures then establish and build these key components to fluency.
(19) Doubts about Hinkley Point have deepened after a detailed report by HSBC’s energy analysts described eight key challenges to the project, which will be built by the state-backed French firm EDF and be part-financed by investment from China .
(20) The Lords will vote on three key amendments: • To exclude child benefit from the cap calculation (this would roughly halve the number of households affected).
Symbol
Definition:
(n.) A visible sign or representation of an idea; anything which suggests an idea or quality, or another thing, as by resemblance or by convention; an emblem; a representation; a type; a figure; as, the lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.
(n.) Any character used to represent a quantity, an operation, a relation, or an abbreviation.
(n.) An abstract or compendium of faith or doctrine; a creed, or a summary of the articles of religion.
(n.) That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
(n.) Share; allotment.
(n.) An abbreviation standing for the name of an element and consisting of the initial letter of the Latin or New Latin name, or sometimes of the initial letter with a following one; as, C for carbon, Na for sodium (Natrium), Fe for iron (Ferrum), Sn for tin (Stannum), Sb for antimony (Stibium), etc. See the list of names and symbols under Element.
(v. t.) To symbolize.
Example Sentences:
(1) A tiny studio flat that has become a symbol of London's soaring property prices is to be investigated by planning, environmental health and fire safety authorities after the Guardian revealed details of its shoebox-like proportions.
(2) In Tirana, Francis lauded the mutual respect and trust between Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Albania as a "precious gift" and a powerful symbol in today's world.
(3) They operate on a mystical and symbolic plane, which is foreign to the practice of "Western" medicine.
(4) They include the Francoist slogan "Arriba España" and the yoke-and-arrows symbol of the far right Falange, whose members killed the women.
(5) Plasma drug concentrations, subjective self-ratings, and the digit symbol substitution test (DSST) were evaluated during 24 hours after dosage.
(6) YOH shifted the healthy subjects' mood towards feeling panicked, elevated systolic blood pressure and plasma prolactin concentrations, reduced digit symbol substitution, and induced drowsiness and passiveness.
(7) Brazil and Argentina unite in protest against culture of sexual violence Read more The symbolic power of so many women standing together proves that focusing on victims does not mean portraying women as passive.
(8) There on the street is Young Jo whose last words were, "I am wery symbolic, sir."
(9) Third, the appropriation of these symbolic forms of society, self, and the emotions by the current Iranian Islamic state and the role of the state in defining the meaning and legitimacy of emotions and their expression is analyzed.
(10) The philosopher defended his actions by referring to Pierre Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence, naturally enough, but it didn't wash with HR.
(11) This museum is a symbol of the artistic vitality of Paris.
(12) The best was the oral version of the Symbol Digit Modalities test, which by itself accounted for 70% of the variance of the full-sized-vehicle driving score.
(13) The performance tests included tracking, choice reaction, flicker fusion, exophoria, nystagmus, digit symbol substitution and the subjective assessment of mood.
(14) Besides, Francis says, once their reformation had gone on longer than their initial career, the rest of the band were starting to feel wary about just playing the old material, particularly when they found themselves booked to play a Canadian casino, the kind of venue that is traditionally the preserve of oldies acts: "It was just sort of symbolic, like ha-ha, here we are, at the casino.
(15) To investigate this issue, data from two previous papers were reanalysed to investigate the complete time course of precuing target location with either: (1) a peripheral cue that may draw attention reflexively, or (2) a central, symbolic cue that may require attention to be directed voluntarily.
(16) This more recent system has developed embedded wlithin the posteriorly located analytic and mnemonic cortical tissues and provides for communications between individuals within the species at symbolic, verbal levels.
(17) The top of the fence can also be manipulated in certain ways such as including curvature outward at the top of the fence to make scaling it much more difficult for most.” Some critics, including Washington DC congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, have warned against excessive fortification, but the report argues: “We recognise all the competing considerations that may go into questions regarding the fence, but believe that protection of the President and the White House must be the higher priority.” “Every additional second of response time provided by a fence that is more difficult to climb makes a material difference in ensuring the President’s safety and protecting the symbol that is the White House.” The panel also urges that a new head of secret service, to replace ousted head Julia Pierson, be brought in from outside the agency, ensuring it is better staffed and trained in future.
(18) "They said I was speaking about things I should not be speaking about ... insulting national symbols.
(19) It would be symbolic – not legally binding – but Pearson’s proposal is not just constitutional poetry.
(20) The task was to discriminate the orientation of the middle [symbol: see text].