zodiac
Noun
(s)
(astrology) The belt-like region of the celestial sphere approximately eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, which thousands of years ago included the apparent path of the sun, moon, and planets.
(astrology) The twelve equal divisions of the astrological zodiacal region into signs, or houses, of the zodiac, each sign named after a constellation in this region.
(astronomy) The belt-like region of the celestial sphere corresponding to the apparent path of the sun over the course of a year, the ecliptic.
(countable) A circle decorated with the signs of the zodiac.
Any of various astrological systems considered similar to the above.
* 1998 , Sylvia Sikundar and Barbara DuMoulin, Celebrating Our Cultures , Pembroke Publishers Limited, ISBN 978-1-55138-102-2, page 58 :
- Discussing both Chinese and Western zodiacs might be a prewriting activity.
Derived terms
* zodiacal
* zodiacal light
* zodiac sign
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cancer
Noun
(en noun)
(medicine, oncology, disease) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black)
, title=Internal Combustion
, chapter=1 citation
, passage=If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Snakes and ladders
, passage=Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.}}
(figuratively) Something which spreads within something else, damaging the latter.
- {{quote-book, year=1999, author=Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, title=Effective Writing, page=134 <q cite="http://books.google.com/books?id=_sI0V0w5124C&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&source=bl&ots=R_MyVb9f0Z&sig=eiggQh1XsHHbKDAMU1hn5mWznko&hl=en&sa=X&ei=anMAUIq0LYnnqgGvtsmhBw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAg
- v=onepage&q&f=false”>citation
, passage=Sierra Leone’s post-dictator problems are almost absurd in their breadth. It once exported rice; now it can’t feed itself. The life span of the average citizen is 39, the shortest in Africa. Unemployment stands at 87 percent and tuberculosis is spreading out of control. Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.}}
Synonyms
* (disease) growth, malignancy, neoplasia
* (something which spreads) lichen
Hyponyms
* tumor
* leukaemia, leukemia
Derived terms
(types of cancer)
* bowel cancer
* breast cancer
* colon cancer
* leukemia
* testicular cancer
* lung cancer
* prostate cancer
* ovarian cancer
* skin cancer
* cervical cancer
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