puzzling
101enigma — /euh nig meuh/, n., pl. enigmas, enigmata / meuh teuh/. 1. a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation. 2. a person of puzzling or contradictory character: To me he… …
102France — /frans, frahns/; Fr. /frddahonns/, n. 1. Anatole /ann nann tawl /, (Jacques Anatole Thibault), 1844 1924, French novelist and essayist: Nobel prize 1921. 2. a republic in W Europe. 58,470,421; 212,736 sq. mi. (550,985 sq. km). Cap.: Paris. 3.… …
103light — light1 lightful, adj. lightfully, adv. /luyt/, n., adj., lighter, lightest, v., lighted or lit, lighting. n. 1. something that makes things visible or affords illumination: All colors depend on light. 2. Physics …
104mysterious — mysteriously, adv. mysteriousness, n. /mi stear ee euhs/, adj. 1. full of, characterized by, or involving mystery: a mysterious occurrence. 2. implying or suggesting a mystery: a mysterious smile. 3. of obscure nature, meaning, origin, etc.;… …
105nuclear fission — fission (def. 2). [1885 90] * * * Division of a heavy atomic nucleus into two fragments of roughly equal mass, accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy, the binding energy of the subatomic particles. The energy released in the… …
106photoelectric effect — Physics. the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as light, of sufficiently high frequency by a surface, usually metallic, induces the emission of electrons from the surface. Also called photoemission. [1890 95] * * *… …
107physical science — physical scientist. 1. any of the natural sciences dealing with inanimate matter or with energy, as physics, chemistry, and astronomy. 2. these sciences collectively. [1835 45] * * * Introduction the systematic study of the inorganic world …
108Plato — /play toh/, n. 1. 427 347 B.C., Greek philosopher. 2. a walled plain in the second quadrant of the face of the moon, having a dark floor: about 60 miles (96 km) in diameter. * * * orig. Aristocles born 428/427, Athens, or Aegina, Greece died… …
109predicament — predicamental /pri dik euh men tl, pred i keuh /, adj. predicamentally, adv. /pri dik euh meuhnt/ for 1, 3; /pred i keuh meuhnt/ for 2, n. 1. an unpleasantly difficult, perplexing, or dangerous situation. 2. a class or category of logical or… …
110riddle — riddle1 /rid l/, n., v., riddled, riddling. n. 1. a question or statement so framed as to exercise one s ingenuity in answering it or discovering its meaning; conundrum. 2. a puzzling question, problem, or matter. 3. a puzzling thing or person. 4 …
