Definition: (adjective) Having an allergy or peculiar or excessive susceptibility (especially to a specific factor).
Synonyms: allergic.
Usage: I am hypersensitive to pollen and suffer terribly from a runny nose and itchy, watery eyes during the spring.
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Source: The Free Dictionary
A four-year study by scientists at the University of California, Irvine found that bonnethead sharks don’t just eat crabs and other small fish, but also live off a diet of sea grass. Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences called the bonnethead … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A former medical student, Biko founded the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa in 1968 to combat racism and apartheid. He was officially “banned” by the South African government in 1973 and was arrested several times in the years that followed. Arrested for the last time in 1977, he was tortured and beaten to death in police custody, prompting international protests and a UN arms embargo. Twenty years later, five former policemen admitted killing him. Why were they never prosecuted? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Chevalier was a French actor, singer, and vaudeville entertainer known for his trademark tuxedo and straw hat. While a prisoner of war during World War I, Chevalier studied English. After the war, he began acting in the US, where he appeared in movies that helped establish the musical as a film genre. Though he put on a heavy French accent while performing in English, he actually spoke the language quite fluently with only a subtle accent. Why did his popularity dwindle during World War II? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The Ishtar Gate was a massive entryway built in the ancient city of Babylon around 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Named for the goddess Ishtar—an ancient fertility deity and the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylon—the gate was more than 38 feet (12 m) high and adorned with images of 575 dragons and bulls in 13 rows. Through the gate ran the stone- and brick-paved Processional Way, lined with 120 brick lions. Where is there a reproduction of the Ishtar Gate? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (verb) Cause to be bitter or resentful.
Synonyms: acerbate, envenom.
Usage: He would not let this bad experience embitter him and resolved to maintain a positive outlook on life.
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Source: The Free Dictionary
The weird hexagon swirling around Saturn’s north pole is much taller than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Researchers have generally regarded the 20,000-mile-wide (32,000 kilometers) hexagon — a jet stream composed of air moving at about … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
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Patriot Day in the United States commemorates the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and in the skies above Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Each year the president proclaims a day of national observance in memory of the more than 2,700 people who lost their lives in the attacks. Throughout the nation, flags are flown at half-staff and a moment of silence is observed at 8:46 a.m., Eastern time, the exact moment the first plane flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
After earning a degree in medicine, Aldrovandi took up botany and zoology, amassing a spectacular cabinet of curiosities containing thousands of specimens. He is said to have been the first to use the word “geology” in its modern sense. Carolus Linnaeus, the botanist who laid the groundwork for the modern system of naming species, hailed Aldrovandi as the father of natural history. Aldrovandi also founded Bologna’s public botanical garden and was its first curator. Why was he arrested in 1549? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Also known as Pythagoras’ constant, the square root of 2 is a positive real number that, when multiplied by itself, results in the number 2. Though perhaps less well known than pi, the square root of 2 was probably the first known irrational number—a real number that cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers—and approximations of it have been found on an ancient Babylonian tablet and in ancient Indian texts. To how many decimal places has the value of the square root of 2 been calculated? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary