<B>paranoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>resembling or tending toward paranoia (used especially of symptoms occurring in many psychoses). <BR> <I>Ex. Pure paranoia is rare, but many ill persons exhibit traces of paranoid thinking (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having the characteristics of paranoia. <BR> <I>Ex. A patient with paranoid psychosis carries to extremes the normal methods of maintaining self-esteem (Merck Manual).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a paranoid person. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the prancing paranoid who planned to rule the world from Berlin (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paranoidschizophrenia">
<B>paranoid schizophrenia,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychiatry.) a mental disease resembling paranoia but also characterized by autistic behavior, hallucinations, and gradual deterioration of the personality. </DL>
<A NAME="paranormal">
<B>paranormal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> outside normal perception or knowledge; psychic. <BR> <I>Ex. paranormal communication.</I> adv. <B>paranormally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paranthropus">
<B>Paranthropus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any manlike ape of an extinct genus characterized by massive jaws and teeth, fossils of which have been discovered in South Africa. </DL>
<A NAME="paranuclein">
<B>paranuclein, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) any amorphous substance of a group that, unlike true nucleins, does not yield nitrogenous bases on decomposition; pseudonuclein. </DL>
<A NAME="para">
<B>para,</B> or <B>Para nut, =Brazil nut.</B></DL>
<A NAME="paranymph">
<B>paranymph, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in ancient Greece: <DD><B> a. </B>a friend who went with the bridegroom to bring home the bride. <DD><B> b. </B>the bridesmaid who escorted the bride to the bridegroom. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Poetic.) <DD><B> a. </B>a bridesmaid. <DD><B> b. </B>a best man. </DL>
<A NAME="parapet">
<B>parapet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a low wall or mound of stone or earth to protect soldiers, in front of a walk or platform at the top of a fort, trench, or other fortification. (SYN) rampart. <DD><B> 2. </B>a low wall or barrier at the edge of a balcony, roof, bridge, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. the parapet of the great dam (H. G. Wells).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parapeted">
<B>parapeted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a parapet or parapets. <BR> <I>Ex. a parapeted terrace.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paraph">
<B>paraph, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a flourish made after a signature such as in a document, originally as a precaution against forgery and therefore very elaborate. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to add a paraph to. <DD><B> 2. </B>to sign, especially with one's initials. </DL>
<A NAME="paraphernalia">
<B>paraphernalia, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>personal belongings. <BR> <I>Ex. Trunks containing ... personal property--their sole chattels and paraphernalia on earth (Arnold Bennett).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>equipment; outfit. <BR> <I>Ex. the paraphernalia for a chemical experiment. Mountain climbing paraphernalia include ropes, straps, and climbing shoes. The ample fireplace ... garnished with a crane having various hooks and other paraphernalia (Harriet Beecher Stowe). The existence of constructed theories implies deductions, inductions, assumptions and all the paraphernalia of methodology which constitute the philosophy of science (F. H. George).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Law.) the articles of personal property which the law formerly allowed a woman to keep during her marriage. </DL>
<A NAME="paraphilia">
<B>paraphilia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychology.) anomalous or deviant sexuality. </DL>
<A NAME="paraphrasable">
<B>paraphrasable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be paraphrased. <BR> <I>Ex. Some sort of paraphrasable meaning could be extracted from every poem (Listener).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paraphrase">
<B>paraphrase, </B>verb, <B>-phrased,</B> <B>-phrasing,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to state the meaning of (a passage) in other words. <BR> <I>Ex. A long-established rule permits reporters to paraphrase everything the President says, but direct quotation must be specifically authorized (New York Times).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make a paraphrase. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an expression of the meaning of a passage in other words. <BR> <I>Ex. I have here given my own paraphrase of this document, which has inspired so much controversy and commentary (Edmund Wilson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>paraphrasing as a manner of literary treatment or educational technique. noun <B>paraphraser.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paraphrast">
<B>paraphrast, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who paraphrases; paraphraser. </DL>
<A NAME="paraphrastic">
<B>paraphrastic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of, having to do with, or of the nature of paraphrase. <DD><B> 2. </B>given to the use of paraphrase. adv. <B>paraphrastically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paraphrenia">
<B>paraphrenia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychiatry.) any paranoid disorder or disease. </DL>
<A NAME="paraphysis">
<B>paraphysis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) any one of the erect, sterile filaments often occurring among the reproductive organs in certain ferns, mosses, fungi, and the like. </DL>
<A NAME="paraplasm">
<B>paraplasm, </B>noun. <B>=deutoplasm.</B></DL>
<A NAME="paraplegia">
<B>paraplegia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> paralysis of the legs and the lower part of the trunk; paralysis from the waist downward. </DL>
<A NAME="paraplegic">
<B>paraplegic, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person afflicted with paraplegia. <BR> <I>Ex. Then there are the paraplegics (both sides paralyzed from the waist down) who can be taught to crutch-walk and wait on themselves (Marguerite Clark).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with, or afflicted with, paraplegia. </DL>
<A NAME="parapodium">
<B>parapodium, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dia.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of the paired, jointless metameric processes or rudimentary limbs of certain annelids, that serve as organs of locomotion and sometimes of sensation or respiration. </DL>
<A NAME="paraprofessional">
<B>paraprofessional, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person who assists a teacher, nurse, social worker, or other professional; aide or assistant in a professional field who does not have full professional training; subprofessional. <BR> <I>Ex. Classes were proceeding, with regular teachers and "paraprofessionals," mostly mothers, to help out with classes in reading and in English, which is taught by modern adult methods of language instruction (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of, having to do with, or acting as a paraprofessional. <BR> <I>Ex. There is some talk now of using paraprofessional help, trained on the job like interns (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<B>parapsychological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with parapsychology. <BR> <I>Ex. Critics often complain about the lack of repeatability of parapsychological experiments (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parapsychologist">
<B>parapsychologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who studies and records parapsychological phenomena. </DL>
<A NAME="parapsychology">
<B>parapsychology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the branch of psychology dealing with the study of psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory perception, telepathy, and clairvoyance; psychical research. <BR> <I>Ex. Parapsychology, which is the serious study of ... occult matters by intelligent and unhysterical people, has become a recognized science (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paraquat">
<B>paraquat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a herbicide activated by photosynthesis upon contact with weeds. </DL>
<A NAME="paraquet">
<B>paraquet, </B>noun. <B>=parakeet.</B></DL>
<A NAME="pararescue">
<B>pararescue, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rescue by parachutists. </DL>
<A NAME="pararubber">
<B>Para rubber,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>rubber obtained from any of various tropical South American trees of the spurge family. <DD><B> 2. </B>Also, <B>Para rubber tree.</B> any one of these trees, now cultivated in tropical regions throughout the world. </DL>
<A NAME="pararuminant">
<B>pararuminant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an animal whose digestive system is similar to a ruminant's. <BR> <I>Ex. Red kangaroos ... do not chew their cud, although they have a complex stomach structure that harbors a rich microbial community; they are pararuminants (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parasail">
<B>parasail, </B>noun. <B>=parawing.</B></DL>
<A NAME="parasang">
<B>parasang, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Persian measure of length, equal to about 3 1/4 miles as used by Herodotus and Xenophon, but ranging, according to Pliny and Strabo, to as much as 6 1/2 miles. </DL>
<A NAME="paraselene">
<B>paraselene, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bright moonlike spot on a lunar halo; mock moon. <BR> <I>Ex. And all in a moment, reading the very first words of her [Edith Sitwell's] "English Eccentrics," we are plunged into moonlight (albeit paraselene), mummies, hocus-pocus itself (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paraselenic">
<B>paraselenic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a paraselene. </DL>
<A NAME="parashah">
<B>parashah, </B>noun, pl. <B>parashoth,</B> <B>parashioth.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Judaism.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a portion of the Torah (Law) appointed to be read in synagogue services every Sabbath and festival; lesson or reading. <DD><B> 2. </B>one of the sections into which these lessons are divided. </DL>
