Key terms & definitions

The number of times an outcome or event actually occurs in an experiment.

A person or device that receives an electromagnetic wave.

An influence of an observer’s expectations or personal inclinations on which behaviours they choose to observe and how they record or interpret them.

A change in people’s behaviour caused by their awareness that they are being studied.

A change in participants’ behaviour because they know that an observer is present.

A position allowing a non-member to attend and participate in an organisation’s proceedings without the full rights of membership.

A consuming preoccupation that dominates a person’s thoughts and behaviour.

The process by which a product or service becomes outdated as technology or consumer wants change.

A product becoming outdated or no longer suitable because technology, support or users’ expectations have changed; it need not be physically broken.

An angle greater than 90° but less than 180°.

The front face of a coin, often carrying a ruler’s portrait or identifying design.

The front face of a coin; the other face is its reverse.

The two sides of a coin: the obverse is conventionally its front and the reverse its back.

A front formed when a cold front overtakes a warm front.

A monocular depth cue in which an object that partly hides another is perceived as nearer than the object it hides.

The belief that the twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is alive but hidden from ordinary human view until Allah wills his return.

The control of a country or territory by foreign armed forces.

The concentration of different social groups in different types of jobs; in Walby's account, women are concentrated in low-paid, low-status employment.

An area of a defeated country placed under the authority of a foreign occupying power.

Territories under the control of another state’s armed forces. In the First Intifada, the central territories were the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967.

Land controlled by the armed forces of another state. Military occupation does not, by itself, transfer sovereignty over that land.

A large-scale flow of seawater that transports water and heat.

The contamination of seas and oceans by harmful substances or waste.

A long, narrow, deep depression in the ocean floor formed where a tectonic plate bends down into a subduction zone.

The first eight lines of a sonnet.

Julius Caesar’s adopted heir and Antony’s rival, who defeated Antony and Cleopatra and later became Rome’s first emperor under the name Augustus.

Proof obtained through sight. Othello demands this in Act 3 Scene 3, but accepts Iago's reports instead.

A circular opening, particularly the opening at the summit of the Pantheon's dome.

A whole number that is not divisible by 2; division by 2 leaves a remainder of 1 in the corresponding positive number.

A poem that addresses and celebrates a subject, often in an elevated or reflective style.