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PA
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An electronic amplification system used as a communication system in public areas
Synonyms:
P.A.; P.A. system; PA; PA system; public address system
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("PA" is a kind of...):
communication system (a system for communicating)
Meronyms (parts of "PA"):
amplifier (electronic equipment that increases strength of signals passing through it)
loudspeaker; loudspeaker system; speaker; speaker system; speaker unit (electro-acoustic transducer that converts electrical signals into sounds loud enough to be heard at a distance)
tannoy (a loudspeaker)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
Synonyms:
Keystone State; PA; Pa.; Pennsylvania
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
Instance hypernyms:
American state (one of the 50 states of the United States)
Meronyms (parts of "PA"):
Susquehanna; Susquehanna River (a river in the northeastern United States that rises in New York and flows southward through Pennsylvania and Maryland into Chesapeake Bay)
Monongahela; Monongahela River (a river that rises in northern West Virginia and flows north into Pennsylvania where it joins the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River)
Lehigh River (a river in eastern Pennsylvania that flows southeast into the Delaware River)
Blue Ridge; Blue Ridge Mountains (a range of the Appalachians extending from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia)
Allegheny; Allegheny River (a river that rises in Pennsylvania and flows north into New York and then back south through Pennsylvania again to join the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh which is the beginning of the Ohio River)
Alleghenies; Allegheny Mountains (the western part of the Appalachian Mountains; extending from northern Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia)
Pittsburgh (a city in southwestern Pennsylvania where the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River forms the Ohio River; long an important urban industrial area; site of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh)
City of Brotherly Love; Philadelphia (the largest city in Pennsylvania; located in the southeastern part of the state on the Delaware river; site of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed; site of the University of Pennsylvania)
Chester (a city of southeastern Pennsylvania on the Delaware river (an industrial suburb of Philadelphia))
capital of Pennsylvania; Harrisburg (capital of Pennsylvania; located in southern part of state)
Gettysburg (a small town in southern Pennsylvania; site of a national cemetery)
Erie (a port city on Lake Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania)
Bethlehem (a town in eastern Pennsylvania on the Lehigh River to the northwest of Philadelphia; an important center for steel production)
Altoona (a town in central Pennsylvania)
Allentown (a city in eastern Pennsylvania; an industrial and commercial center)
Penn; Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania (a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Domain member region:
Battle of Gettysburg; Gettysburg (a battle of the American Civil War (1863); the defeat of Robert E. Lee's invading Confederate Army was a major victory for the Union)
Holonyms ("PA" is a part of...):
America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)
Mid-Atlantic states (a region of the eastern United States comprising New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Maryland)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
Synonyms:
dad; dada; daddy; pa; papa; pappa; pop
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pa" is a kind of...):
begetter; father; male parent (a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father))
Sense 4
Meaning:
A unit of pressure equal to one newton per square meter
Synonyms:
Pa; pascal
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("Pa" is a kind of...):
pressure unit (a unit measuring force per unit area)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A short-lived radioactive metallic element formed from uranium and disintegrating into actinium and then into lead
Synonyms:
atomic number 91; Pa; protactinium; protoactinium
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("Pa" is a kind of...):
metal; metallic element (any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc.)
Context examples:
The toxins produced by anthrax bacteria are lethal factor (LF), protective antigen (PA) and edema factor (EF).
(Anthrax Toxin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
The LF and EF proteins bind to the PA pre-pore, followed by internalization of the entire structure through receptor-mediated endocytosis.
(Anthrax Toxin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
In the endosomal compartment, the acidic pH causes a conformational change that inserts PA fragments and releases LF and EF into the cytoplasm.
(Anthrax Toxin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
