Terminology Index of A Terms

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List of Terminology Index – 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 microprocessor, 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 representative 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 program used to convert assembly language to machine language.

Associated Company : When two independent 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.