Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

probation

(Encyclopedia)probation, method by which the punishment of a convicted offender is conditionally suspended. The offender must remain in the community and under the supervision of a probation officer, who is usually...

Patkul, Johann Reinhold von

(Encyclopedia)Patkul, Johann Reinhold von yōˈhän rīnˈhôlt fən pätˈko͝ol [key], 1660–1707, Livonian nobleman. He incurred the wrath of Charles XI of Sweden by championing the rights of the Livonian gentr...

Moro, Aldo

(Encyclopedia)Moro, Aldo älˈdō môˈrō [key], 1916–78, Italian political leader. A lawyer, he entered national politics in 1946, when he was elected to the constituent assembly as a member of the Christian De...

castration

(Encyclopedia)castration, removal of the sex glands of an animal, i.e., testes in the male, or ovaries and often the uterus in the female. Castration of the female animal is commonly referred to as spaying. Castrat...

limbo

(Encyclopedia)limbo, in Roman Catholic theology, an afterlife realm between heaven and hell where there is no punishment but where souls are denied the presence of God. Never part of Catholic dogma, the concept of ...

Vergniaud, Pierre Victurnien

(Encyclopedia)Vergniaud, Pierre Victurnien pyĕr vēktürnyăNˈ vĕrnyōˈ [key], 1753–93, French revolutionary. A brilliant lawyer, he gained attention (1790) when defending peasants who had burned a castle. El...

murder

(Encyclopedia)murder, criminal homicide, usually distinguished from manslaughter by the element of malice aforethought. The most direct case of malicious intent occurs when the killer is known to have adopted the d...

Phillips, Wendell

(Encyclopedia)Phillips, Wendell, 1811–84, American reformer and orator, b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1831; LL.B., 1834). He was admitted to the bar in 1834 but, having sufficient income of his own, he abandone...

guilt

(Encyclopedia)guilt, in psychology, a term denoting an unpleasant feeling associated with unfulfilled wishes. Sigmund Freud initially contended that sexual drives produce sense of guilt in the superego, the moral c...

Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of, 1721–65, British general; third son of George II. Entering the army shortly before the outbreak (1740) of the War of the Austrian Succession, he was defeated b...
 

Browse by Subject