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ALIGNMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of adjusting or aligning the parts of a device in relation to each other
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("alignment" is a kind of...):
adjustment; readjustment; registration (the act of adjusting something to match a standard)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alignment"):
camber (the alignment of the wheels of a motor vehicle closer together at the bottom than at the top)
toe-in (the alignment of the front wheels of a motor vehicle closer together at the front than at the back)
Derivation:
align (bring (components or parts) into proper or desirable coordination correlation)
align (be or come into adjustment with)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The spatial property possessed by an arrangement or position of things in a straight line or in parallel lines
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("alignment" is a kind of...):
arrangement; placement (the spatial property of the way in which something is placed)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alignment"):
true (proper alignment; the property possessed by something that is in correct or proper alignment)
Derivation:
align (place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(astronomy) apparent meeting or passing of two or more celestial bodies in the same degree of the zodiac
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("alignment" is a kind of...):
encounter; meeting (a casual or unexpected convergence)
Domain category:
astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alignment"):
inferior conjunction ((astronomy) the alignment of the Earth and a planet on the same side of the sun)
superior conjunction ((astronomy) the alignment of the Earth and a planet on the opposite side of the sun)
Sense 4
Meaning:
An organization of people (or countries) involved in a pact or treaty
Synonyms:
alignment; alinement; alliance; coalition
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("alignment" is a kind of...):
organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)
Meronyms (members of "alignment"):
ally (a friendly nation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alignment"):
combination (an alliance of people or corporations or countries for a special purpose (formerly to achieve some antisocial end but now for general political or economic purposes))
allies (an alliance of nations joining together to fight a common enemy)
axis; bloc (a group of countries in special alliance)
Allies (in World War I the alliance of Great Britain and France and Russia and all the other nations that became allied with them in opposing the Central Powers)
Central Powers (in World War I the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary and other nations allied with them in opposing the Allies)
Allies (the alliance of nations that fought the Axis in World War II and which (with subsequent additions) signed the charter of the United Nations in 1945)
Axis (in World War II the alliance of Germany and Italy in 1936 which later included Japan and other nations)
entente; entente cordiale (an informal alliance between countries)
popular front (a leftist coalition organized against a common opponent)
global organization; international organisation; international organization; world organisation; world organization (an international alliance involving many different countries)
Northern Alliance; United Front (a multiethnic alliance in Afghanistan who practice a moderate form of Islam and are united in their opposition to the Taliban)
Antonym:
nonalignment (people (or countries) who are not aligned with other people (or countries) in a pact or treaty)
Derivation:
align (align oneself with a group or a way of thinking)
Context examples:
The BLAST bit score allows for alignment comparisons between independent searches.
(BLAST Bit Score, NCI Thesaurus)
An approach to modeling a protein structure based on an initial sequence alignment to a protein with a known 3D structure.
(Homology Modeling, NCI Thesaurus)
Agents that modulate the activity of kinesins, specifically those that produce inhibitory effects, interfere with mitotic spindle assembly, organization and eventually, chromosome alignment and segregation, thereby inducing mitotic arrest.
(Mitotic Kinesin Modulator, NCI Thesaurus)
An inherited or acquired dental abnormality characterized by improper alignment of the teeth.
(Malocclusion, NCI Thesaurus)
The average cell intensity for the antisense probe cells used in the grid alignment process.
(Corner Minus, NCI Thesaurus)
Mitotic enzymes regulate various mitotic events including centrosome separation, mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome alignment, phosphorylation of tubulin and cell-cycle regulators, and interaction with mitotic kinesins; other roles include facilitating the progression through and the exit from mitosis as well as regulating cytokinesis.
(Mitotic Enzyme Modulator, NCI Thesaurus)
Upon administration and rapid conversion from the prodrug form in plasma, AZD1152-HQPA specifically binds to and inhibits Aurora kinase B, which results in the disruption of spindle checkpoint functions and chromosome alignment and, so, the disruption of chromosome segregation and cytokinesis.
(Barasertib, NCI Thesaurus)
Thanks to a rare orbital alignment between Europa and Io, an international team of researchers has identified and tracked a pair of lava waves as they coursed around Loki Patera, which is larger than Lake Ontario, and with a surface area of 8,300 square miles (21,500 square km).
(Massive Lava Waves Detected on Solar System’s Most Volcanically Active Object, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The statistical probability of the number of alignments that are expected to occur by chance, in a database of a given size, with a score greater than or equal to the BLAST raw score.
(BLAST E-Value, NCI Thesaurus)
This full moon in Taurus will be in lovely alignment to Pluto, your ruling planet, currently based in your third house of communication and travel.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
