What's the difference between secular and specular?

Secular


Definition:

  • (a.) Coming or observed once in an age or a century.
  • (a.) Pertaining to an age, or the progress of ages, or to a long period of time; accomplished in a long progress of time; as, secular inequality; the secular refrigeration of the globe.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to temporal as distinguished from eternal interests; not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly.
  • (a.) Not regular; not bound by monastic vows or rules; not confined to a monastery, or subject to the rules of a religious community; as, a secular priest.
  • (a.) Belonging to the laity; lay; not clerical.
  • (n.) A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.
  • (n.) A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.
  • (n.) A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Broad-based secular comprehensives that draw in families across the class, faith and ethnic spectrum, entirely free of private control, could hold a new appeal.
  • (2) In women, the secular increase occurred throughout the distribution of body weights but the change in the upper end was two to three times greater than that in the other parts of the distribution.
  • (3) Secularism is the only way to stop collapse and chaos and to foster bonds of citizenship in our complex democracy.
  • (4) These secular changes may explain why some studies have found that oral contraceptives have a protective effect, while others have been unable to show such an effect.
  • (5) Secular growth changes of Stockholm schoolchildren born in 1933, 1943, 1953 and 1963 were studied through samples of about 2500 children in each year.
  • (6) We still have at our disposal the rational interpretive skills that are the legacy of humanistic education, not as a sentimental piety enjoining us to return to traditional values or the classics but as the active practice of worldly secular rational discourse.
  • (7) Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya said the “truth [of the Gospel] continues to be called into question in the Anglican communion” and warned against “the global ambitions of a secular culture”.
  • (8) The previous history of PID, especially in the older age groups, reflects the combined effect of secular trends in PID incidence and temporal changes in diagnostic and treatment practices.
  • (9) 'If you meet, you drink …' Thus introduced to intoxicating liquors under auspices both secular and sacred, the offering of alms for oblivion I took to be the custom of the country in which I had been born.
  • (10) Memories of the conflict – in which up to 3 million people may have died – remain very much alive in the country of 160 million, the world's third largest Muslim state, albeit one with a broadly secular political culture.
  • (11) Causes of the marked secular trends in the cancer mortality and incidence are not clear, but the major causes are suspected to be changes in dietary habits, smoking and drinking habits, and other socio-environmental factors such as marital and reproductive factors.
  • (12) The results indicate an end to the positive secular trend for height and weight at about the same time as the previously reported end to a decreasing age of menarch in London girls.
  • (13) Ahead of disputed parliamentary elections, the secular forces that featured so prominently during the first months of the revolution are struggling.
  • (14) This secular trend was due to both "laboratory drift" and increasing use of diuretics.
  • (15) Thus, effects of secular change in age at menarche may not be wholly benign.
  • (16) A broad coalition of Egyptian organisations – some Islamist, some secular – plan to join with British NGOs and trade unions in protest at Sisi’s arrival ; letters denouncing Cameron’s invitation have been issued by political figures and academics , and an early-day motion in parliament condemning the visit has been signed by 51 MPs, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
  • (17) Their differences highlight Northern Ireland’s often stark dichotomy between religious-based social conservatism and secular progressive liberalism.
  • (18) It follows that the explanation of the secular trend as being an ecosensitive response of individuals to changing levels of well-being is insufficient.
  • (19) Hitchens responded to counter-examples of secular tyranny in the Soviet Union and China by saying: It is interesting to find that people of faith now seek defensively to say that they are no worse than fascists or Nazis or Stalinists.
  • (20) In conclusion it is suggested that medicalization may be conductive to sect development, and that secularization and medicalization are compatible models of social change.

Specular


Definition:

  • (a.) Having the qualities of a speculum, or mirror; having a smooth, reflecting surface; as, a specular metal; a specular surface.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum; as, a specular examination.
  • (a.) Assisting sight, as a lens or the like.
  • (a.) Affording view.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a prospective study begun in March 1986, specular-microscopic endothelial cell photographs were taken in non-selected patients with primary, chronic, open-angle glaucoma who had not had intraocular surgery.
  • (2) This structure corresponds in distribution to the skin along the back of the fetus and likely represents a specular reflection from the skin surface.
  • (3) The effects of osmotic stress on corneal endothelium were investigated by exposing rabbit corneas to anisosmotic conditions, and then perfusing the corneas with isosmotic glutathione bicarbonate Ringer solution for 4 hr at 35 degrees C. During the perfusion, endothelial function was assessed by measuring corneal thickness with a specular microscope.
  • (4) Specular microscopic examination of the endothelium after the application of iodoacetamide showed progressive degradation of the integrity of the cellular structure; after 6 hr, there were no discernible cell borders.
  • (5) We developed an apparatus for automated morphometry of the corneal endothelium, which was photographed through a specular microscope connected to a video camera, and the images were stored on a video tape.
  • (6) Endothelial specular photography during an attack reveals dramatic changes: large black nonreflecting areas between quite normal-looking hexagonal cells.
  • (7) 1) In polishing the axial surface of the inner crown of the conic telescope crown system, the milling machine with a polishing disk facilitated specular finishing without causing undercutting in the region from the occlusal surface to the dental cervix.
  • (8) The specular photomicrographic characteristics were similar to those of fibroblast-like cells and foreign-body giant cells, which had been shown on the surfaces of extracted implanted intraocular lenses by the lens implant cytology technique.
  • (9) Excellent photographs of corneal endothelial cells may be obtained during clinical examinations with the specular microscope.
  • (10) Specular microscopy and computer-assisted morphometry was used to quantify central and peripheral endothelial cell density (ECD), coefficient of variation (COV) and the mean and standard deviation of the shape factor (S) over an 18-month period.
  • (11) We present applications to speckle reduction, detection of specular reflectors, attenuation estimation and ultrasound imaging.
  • (12) An off-specular peak, located at an angle of reflection considerably different from the angle of incidence, was observed to have an intensity comparable with that of the specular reflection peak.
  • (13) While some deep corneal opacities are easily diagnosed clinically, the nature of others may be difficult to determine and specular microscopy is a valuable aid in such cases.
  • (14) This synergistic combination did not alter donor human corneal morphology under specular microscopy, nor did it inhibit rabbit corneal endothelial cell division preserved and propagated in antifungal supplemented MK medium.
  • (15) In cases with pseudoprecipitates examination of the corneal endothelium with the specular microscope does not reveal any specific findings, only an edema of the corneal endothelium (so-called cornea pseudoguttata).
  • (16) An original system of grading of the corneal endothelial specular reflection, as assessed with a Haag-Streit 900 slit-lamp biomicroscope, has been shown to have a very highly significant relation to the endothelial cell density measured by contact specular photomicroscopy.
  • (17) Specular microscopy provides a level of magnification and differentiation of detail which approaches that of a histological examination, and has the advantage of being a noninvasive procedure.
  • (18) The resins characterized for Black patients had a higher degree of specular reflectance and were more opaque than resins for Caucasians.
  • (19) Endothelial repair was then studied using specular microscopy, histological staining, pachymetry, and autoradiographic analysis of the incorporation of tritiated thymidine into nuclear DNA.
  • (20) Observations were made with the aid of several microscopic techniques: light and specular microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy.