<B>Parthian shot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a sharp parting remark or the like (from the traditional tactic of the mounted archers of ancient Parthia, which was to shoot arrows back at an adversary as they fled or pretended to flee). </DL>
<A NAME="parti">
<B>parti, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person considered as a matrimonial match. <BR> <I>Ex. A girl in our society accepts the best parti which offers itself (Thackeray).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="partial">
<B>partial, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not complete; not total. <BR> <I>Ex. a partial eclipse. Father has made a partial payment on our new car.</I> (SYN) incomplete, imperfect. <DD><B> 2. </B>inclined to favor one side more than another; favoring unfairly. <BR> <I>Ex. A parent should not be partial to any one of his children.</I> (SYN) biased, prejudiced, one-sided. <DD><B> 3. </B>having a liking for; favorably inclined. <BR> <I>Ex. He is partial to sports.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Mathematics.) (of a function of two or more variables) relative to only one of the variables involved, the rest being for the time supposed constant. <BR> <I>Ex. Partial product is the result of multiplying a number by one digit of the multiplier (Richard Madden).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Music.) partial tone. <BR> <I>Ex. The audibility of partials is not only limited by the threshold of frequency sensitivity (F. A. Kuttner).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) partial denture. noun <B>partialness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="partialdenture">
<B>partial denture,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an artificial replacement of only one or several teeth. A partial denture may be fixed or removable. </DL>
<A NAME="partialfraction">
<B>partial fraction,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Algebra.) one of the fractions into which a given fraction can be resolved, the sum of such simpler fractions being equal to the given fraction. </DL>
<A NAME="partiality">
<B>partiality, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a favoring of one more than another or others; favorable prejudice; being partial. <BR> <I>Ex. Either I am blinded by the partiality of a parent, or he is a boy of very amiable character (Tobias Smollett).</I> (SYN) bias, favoritism. <DD><B> 2. </B>a particular liking; fondness; preference; bent. <BR> <I>Ex. Children and adults alike often have a partiality for candy.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="partially">
<B>partially, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in part; not generally or totally; partly. <BR> <I>Ex. a school for blind and partially blind children. When stars high in the sky are being studied, the partially closed shutter will serve as a windscreen (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>in a partial manner; with undue bias. </DL>
<A NAME="partialtone">
<B>partial tone,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) one of the higher or lower tones which sound together with the fundamental tone and form a resulting compound tone. Upper partial tones are also called harmonics on stringed instruments or open tones on wind instruments. </DL>
<A NAME="partibility">
<B>partibility, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality of being partible. <BR> <I>Ex. the partibility of an inheritance.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="partible">
<B>partible, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be divided or distributed among a number; divisible; separable. </DL>
<A NAME="particepscriminis">
<B>particeps criminis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) a person who shares in a crime; accomplice. </DL>
<A NAME="participance">
<B>participance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the fact or quality of participating. </DL>
<A NAME="participancy">
<B>participancy, </B>noun. =participance.</DL>
<A NAME="participant">
<B>participant, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person who shares or participates; sharer; participator. <BR> <I>Ex. Each correct answer gives the audience participant a right to take [an item] from the girl in the spotlight (Time).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> participating; sharing. </DL>
<A NAME="participate">
<B>participate, </B>verb, <B>-pated,</B> <B>-pating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to have a share; take part; share in an undertaking. <BR> <I>Ex. The teacher participated in the children's games.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to possess or enjoy in common with others; share; partake. <BR> <I>Ex. When I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy (Mary W. Shelley).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="participatinginsurance">
<B>participating insurance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of insurance in which the policyholder receives a share or dividend from the insurance company's surplus earnings. </DL>
<A NAME="participation">
<B>participation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or fact of taking part; participating. <BR> <I>Ex. They wanted more direct participation in the solution of steel production problems (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="participational">
<B>participational, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> involving the participation of spectators or an audience. </DL>
<A NAME="participative">
<B>participative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characterized by participation; participating. adv. <B>participatively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="participator">
<B>participator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who participates. <BR> <I>Ex. participators in our misfortune.</I> </DL>
<B>participatory democracy,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> active participation by citizens in politics, especially by public campaigning, demonstration, or protest. <BR> <I>Ex. Participatory democracy calls for each person to have a voice in all the decisions affecting his life (Bonnie B. Stretch). "Participatory democracy" increasingly means minority action without the benefit of open debate (Fred M. Hechinger).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="participatorytheater">
<B>participatory theater,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of theater in which the plays include participation or physical involvement by the audience. </DL>
<A NAME="participial">
<B>participial, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with a participle. (Examples:) a <I>masked</I> man, a <I>becoming</I> dress (participial adjectives), the <I>cutting</I> of ice, the fatigue of <I>marching</I> (participial nouns). <DD><I>noun </I> a verbal derivative of the nature of, or akin to, a participle. </DL>
<A NAME="participially">
<B>participially, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> as a participle. In "the girl singing sweetly," <I>singing</I> is used participially. </DL>
<A NAME="participle">
<B>participle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a form of a verb used as an adjective or noun. (Abbr:) part. </DL>
<A NAME="particle">
<B>particle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a very little bit. <BR> <I>Ex. I got a particle of dust in my eye.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>any one of the extremely small units of which all matter is composed, such as the molecule, atom, electron, photon, neutrino, or meson; elementary particle. <BR> <I>Ex. [The theory of photons] involves the basic dualism between the continuous and the discontinuous, between wave and particle (I. Bernard Cohen).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a minute mass of matter that while still having inertia and attraction is treated as a point without length, breadth, or thickness. <DD><B> 3a. </B>a derivational prefix or suffix, such as <I>un-, -ment, -ly, -ness.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a word that cannot be inflected, such as a preposition, conjunction, article, or interjection. <I>In, if, an,</I> and <I>ah</I> are particles. <DD><B> c. </B>the term sometimes applied to all such words collectively when classed together as a single part of speech or form class. <DD><B> 4. </B>in the Roman Catholic Church: <DD><B> a. </B>a fragment of the Eucharistic Host. <DD><B> b. </B>the wafer given to each lay communicant. </DL>
<A NAME="particleaccelerator">
<B>particle accelerator,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several machines, such as the betatron or cyclotron, that greatly increase the speed and energy of protons, electrons, and other atomic particles and direct them in a steady stream at a target; accelerator. The accelerated particles are used to bombard the nuclei of atoms, causing the nuclei to release new particles and energy. <BR> <I>Ex. The monoenergetic neutrons produced by particle accelerators have energies above the displacement threshold (Science).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="particlebeam">
<B>particle beam,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a concentrated flow of charged nuclear particles. <BR> <I>Ex. Particle beams have been essential research tools for [studying] the structure of the atom and its constituent particles (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a directed, high-energy stream of such particles, used as a weapon; death ray. <BR> <I>Ex. Particle beams fired from the ground or space at close to the speed of light ... have been suggested as a means of stopping enemy nuclear missiles (New York Post).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="particleboard">
<B>particle board,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an inexpensive type of fiberboard, made from wood chips and shavings by a gluing and pressing process, and used in construction and as a base for furniture. </DL>
<A NAME="particlephysicist">
<B>particle physicist,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who studies particle physics. </DL>
<A NAME="particlephysics">
<B>particle physics,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a branch of physics dealing with elementary particles. <BR> <I>Ex. One of the basic hypotheses of particle physics is that nature should be symmetrical with regard to three basic characteristics of particle interaction: electric charge, parity (right or left handedness), and direction of motion in time (Science News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="particolor">
<B>parti-color, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=parti-colored.</B> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a mixture or combination of colors. <DD><B> 2. </B>a dog with a parti-colored coat. <BR> <I>Ex. Solid-black cocker spaniels are often preferred to parti-colors.</I> </DL>
