-ance, -ancy
(Latin: often through French, quality or state of; being; condition; act or fact of _______ ing; a suffix that forms nouns)
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.
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.
2. A lifestyle 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: Mr. Young, the chemistry teacher, urged his classes to study and to understand the abundance factors of the chemical components.
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".
2. The office of an adjutant: "His position as an adjutancy allows him certain privileges which probably would not exist otherwise."
2. Permission to enter or the right of entry: Melvin and Dawn felt that they should also have the privilege of being allowed admittance to the business meeting.
It is often maintained that admittance should be used only to refer to achieving physical access to a place as the following example shows: Shirley was denied admittance to the restaurant because all of the tables were taken and so there was no place for her to be seated.
Joe's admittance to the club was denied because he was not a member.
It was easy for Karen to secure admittance to the public library, however she soon found several doors marked: "Admittance for staff members only."
2. A connection based on kinship, marriage, or common interest; a bond or tie.
3. A similarity in nature or type; an 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".