-ance, -ancy

1. A state or condition significantly different from the normal: "The reality of the housing development was certainly an aberrance from what Sam had expected."
2. A wandering from what is considered to be the right way; a deviation from truth: "The confessions by the criminals that were made at the police station appeared to be aberrances when compared to the actual facts of the case."

1. The ability of a material or tissue to absorb radiation which depends on temperature and wavelength; expressed as the negative common logarithm of the transmittance (ratio of transmitted energy to incident energy): "The new equipment in the laboratory was able to effectively measure the absorbance of the diseased tissue of the patient."
2. A measure of the extent to which a substance transmits light or other electromagnetic radiations: "Absorbance varies with factors: such as, wavelength, solution concentration, and path length."

The ratio between the radiation absorbed by a surface (absorber) and the total amount of solar radiation striking the surface.

1. A more than plentiful quantity of something: "An abundance of wealth is a great amount of cash."
2. Lifestyles with more than adequate material provisions: "Barry's family has abundances of different homes around the world as well as all of the luxuries that can be obtained for them."
3. A fullness of spirit that overflows: "The sermon by the preacher was filled with an abundance of goodwill and kindness."
4. The extent to which an element is present in the earth or in a rock: "There is a rumor of an abundance of minerals hidden in the abandoned mine."
5. The proportion of one isotope of an element, expressed by number of atoms, to the total quantity of the element: "The chemistry teacher urged his classes to study and to understand the abundance factors of the chemical elements."
6. Etymology: nothing suggests great abundance more vividly than overflowing waves; and that is the literal meaning of the word abundance.

In Latin, unda means "wave", poetically "sea". The Romans combined ab, "from", and unda into the word abundare, "to overflow"; literally, "to come from the waves" or "from the sea"; applied to anything very plentiful.

The stem of abundare resulted in the English verb "to abound", and a derivative provided the noun abundance. Inundate, "to flood", also comes from unda, as does undulate, "to move like the waves".

The sharpness of a photographic or printed image; a numerical measure of this.

Impermeability to radiant heat energy.

The condition of being impervious to or unaffected by heat waves: "Jake's aunt often experienced adiathermancy and so she didn't find the heat of the desert all that uncomfortable."

1. Skillful arrangement in aid; assistance.
2. The office of an adjutant: "His position as an adjutancy allows him certain privileges which probably would not exist otherwise."

1. The right to enter; permission to enter: "Admittance is by invitation only."
2. Permission to enter.
3. The right of entry.
4. The measure of how readily an alternating current flows through a circuit; the reciprocal of impedance.

It is often maintained that admittance should be used only to refer to achieving physical access to a place: "She was denied admittance to the courtroom", and that admission should be used for the wider sense of achieving entry to a group or institution: "His admission to the club; Germany's admission to the United Nations."

There is no harm in observing this distinction, although it is often ignored.

Admission is much more common, as in the sense "a fee paid for the right of entry": "The admission to the movie costs more than I can afford to pay."

"It was easy to secure admission to the public library, but she soon found several doors marked: Admittance to staff members only."

1. To pledge by promise of marriage; to betroth.
2. A pledging of faith, as a marriage contract.
3. Trust; confidence; reliance.

1. A close association of nations, people, or other groups who agree to cooperate, and which are formed to advance common interests or causes.
2. A connection based on kinship, marriage, or common interest; a bond or tie.
3. Close similarity in nature or type; affinity.
4. The act of becoming allied or the condition of being allied.
5. Etymology: from Old French aliance, from alier, "to combine, to unite".

Originally it referred to "a union by marriage".