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Talk Talk - Communication terms Category: General technical and industrial Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK Words: 18630

Nonconformist
In religion, originally a member of the Puritan section of the Church of England clergy who, in the Elizabethan age, refused to conform to certain practices, for example the wearing of the surplice and kneeling to receive Holy Communion

Nolde, Emil
German expressionist painter and graphic artist. Nolde studied in Paris and Dachau, joined the group of artists known as die Brücke 1906–07, and visited Polynesia in 1913; he then became almost a recluse in northeastern Germany. He painted biblical subjects marked by a barbaric intensity of colour, still lifes, and ...

Nobel, Alfred Bernhard
Swedish chemist and engineer. He invented dynamite in 1867, gelignite in 1875, and ballistite, a smokeless gunpowder, in 1887. Having amassed a large fortune from the manufacture of explosives and the exploitation of the Baku oilfields in Azerbaijan, near the Caspian Sea, he left this in trust for the endowment of five Nobel prizes

No
Classical, aristocratic Japanese drama which developed from the 14th to the 16th centuries and is still performed. There is a repertoire of some 250 pieces, of which five, one from each of the several classes devoted to different subjects, may be put on in a performance lasting a whole day. Dance, mime, music, and chanting develop the mythical or h...

nobelium
Synthesized, radioactive, metallic element of the actinide series, atomic number 102, relative atomic mass 259. It is synthesized by bombarding curium with carbon nuclei. It was named in 1957 after the Nobel Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where it was claimed to have been first synthesized. Later evaluations determined that this was in fact not so...

nova
Faint star that suddenly erupts in brightness by 10,000 times or more, remains bright for a few days, and then fades away and is not seen again for very many years, if at all. Novae are believed to occur in close binary star systems, where gas from one star flows to a companion white dwarf. The gas ignites and is thrown off in an explosion at speed...

Northern Ireland
Constituent part of the United Kingdom, in the northeast of the island of Ireland; area 13,460 sq km/5,196 sq mi; population (2001) 1,685,300. It is comprised of six of the nine counties that form Ireland's northernmost province of Ulster (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry,...

nodule
In geology, a lump of mineral or other matter found within rocks or formed on the seabed surface; mining technology is being developed to exploit them

North America
Third largest of the continents (including Greenland and Central America), and over twice the size of Europe. Area 24,000,000 sq km/9,400,000 sq mi Largest cities (population over 1 million) Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Montréal, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Philadelphia,...

nocturne
In music, a reflective character piece, often for piano, introduced by John Field (1782–1837) and adopted by Frédéric Chopin

notation
(music) System of signs and symbols for writing music, either for performers to read from, or to make a permanent record. Early systems of music notation were developed by the ancient Sumerians, by the Chinese in the 3rd century BC, and later by the ancient Greeks and Romans for their music dr...

Noverre, Jean-Georges
French choreographer, writer, and ballet reformer. He promoted ballet d'action (with a plot) and simple, free movement, and is often considered the creator of modern classical ballet. Les Petits Riens (1778) was one of his works

North Korea
Country in East Asia, bounded northeast by Russia, north and northwest by China, east by the Sea of Japan, south by South Korea, and west by the Yellow Sea. Government North Korea has a centralized authoritarian political regime, dominated by the elite within the ruling party and with a cult of personality around the leader, Kim Jong Il. Under the ...

Norway
Click images to enlargeCountry in northwest Europe, on the Scandinavian peninsula, bounded east by Sweden, northeast by Finland and Russia, south by the North Sea, west by the Atlantic Ocean, and north by the Arctic Ocean. Government Norway's constitution dates from 1814. The hereditary monarch is the formal head of s...

Novgorod
(city) City on the Volkhov River in the northwest Russian Federation and capital of Novgorod oblast, 500 km/311 mi northwest of Moscow; population (1990) 232,000. Novgorod is one of the oldest cities in Russia, and was the capital of the Russian state before the ascendancy of Moscow. C...

Northants
Abbreviation for Northamptonshire, an English county

Northd
Abbreviation for Northumberland, an English county

Notts
Abbreviation for Nottinghamshire, an English county

nom de plume
(French `pen-name`) a writer's pseudonym

non-renewable resource
Natural resource, such as coal, oil, or natural gas, that takes millions of years to form naturally and therefore cannot be replaced once it is consumed; it will eventually be used up. The main energy sources used by humans are non-renewable; renewable resources, such as solar, tidal, wind, and geothermal power, have so far been less ex...

North, Oliver
US Marine lieutenant colonel. In 1981 he joined the staff of the National Security Council (NSC), where he supervised the mining of Nicaraguan harbours in 1983, an air-force bombing raid on Libya in 1986, and an arms-for-hostages deal with Iran in 1985, which, when uncovered in 1986 (Irangate), forced his dismissal and trial. North was ...

notation
(dance) In dance, the codification and recording of dances by symbols. There are several dance notation systems; prominent among them is Labanotation

North Holland
Low-lying coastal province of the Netherlands occupying the peninsula jutting northward between the North Sea and the IJsselmeer, bounded on the south by the provinces of South Holland and Utrecht, and includes the island of Texel to the north; area 2,670 sq km/1,031 sq mi; population (1997) 2,474,800. The capital is Haarlem. There ...

northern lights
Common name for the aurora borealis

Novgorod school
Russian school of icon and mural painters active from the late 14th to the 16th century in Novgorod, inspired by the work of the refugee Byzantine artist Theophanes the Greek. Russian artists imitated his linear style, but their work became increasingly stilted and mannered

node
In physics, a position in a standing wave pattern at which there is no vibration. Points at which there is maximum vibration are called antinodes. Stretched strings, for example, can show nodes when they vibrate. Guitarists can produce special effects (harmonics) by touching a sounding string lightly to produce a node

Nono, Luigi
Italian composer. He wrote attenuated pointillist works such as Il canto sospeso/Suspended Song (1955–56) for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, in which influences of Webern and Gabrieli are applied to issues of social conscience. After the opera Intolleranza/Intolerance (1960) his style became more...

note
In music, the written symbol indicating pitch and duration, the sound of which is a tone

nouvelle cuisine
Contemporary French cooking style that avoids traditional rich sauces, emphasizing fresh ingredients and attractive presentation. The phrase was coined in the British magazine Harpers & Queen in June 1975

Noriega Morena, Manuel
(Antonio) Panamanian soldier and politician, effective ruler and dictator of Panama from 1983, as head of the National Guard, until deposed by the USA in 1989. An informer for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the late 1960s, he was known to be involved in drug trafficking as early...

North Cape
Cape in the Norwegian county of Finnmark; the most northerly point of Europe

Nouméa
Port and capital on the southwest coast of New Caledonia; population (1992) 65,000

Norfolk Broads
Area of interlinked shallow freshwater lakes in Norfolk, eastern England, between Norwich, Sea Palling, and Lowestoft. The area has about 200 km/125 mi of navigable waterways, and the region is a popular tourist destination for boating and fishing. The area became a national park in 1988. At St Benet's Abbey near Ludham are the remains of a...

Noland, Kenneth Clifton
US painter. Part of the movement of abstract expressionism, he is associated with the colour-stain painters Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis. In the 1950s and early 1960s he painted targets, or concentric circles of colour, in a clean, hard-edged style on unprimed canvas. His work centred on geometry, colour, and symmetry. His paintings...

Normandy landings
Alternative name for D-day

noble gas
Any of a group of six elements (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon), originally named `inert` because they were thought not to enter into any chemical reactions. This is now known to be incorrect: in 1962, xenon was made to combine with fluorine, and since then, compounds of argon, krypton, and radon with fluorine and/...

North Carolina
State in southeastern USA, bordered to the north by Virginia, to the west and northwest by Tennessee, to the south by Georgia and South Carolina, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean; area 126,161 sq km/48,711 52,650 sq mi; population (2006) 8,856,500; capital Raleigh. Named after Ch...

North Dakota
State in west north-central USA, one of the Great Plains states, bordered to the south by South Dakota, to the west by Montana, to the north by the Canadian states of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and to the east by Minnesota; area 178,647 sq km/68,976 sq mi; population (2006) 635,900...

non-electrolyte
Compound composed of molecules that does not conduct electricity when molten or in aqueous solutions. Sucrose and ethanol are examples of non-electrolytes

non-metal
One of a set of elements (around 20 in total) with certain physical and chemical properties opposite to those of metal elements. The division between metal and non-metal elements forms the simplest division of the periodic table of the elements. Common physical properties are that non-metals have low electrical conductivity, are brittle whe...

North–South divide
Geographical division of the world that theoretically demarcates the rich from the poor. The South includes all of Asia except Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, and the South East Asian `dragons` of Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand; all of Africa; the Middle East, except the oil-rich UAE, ...

noradrenaline
In the body, a hormone that acts directly on specific receptors to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. Released by nerve stimulation or by drugs, it slows the heart rate mainly by constricting arterioles (small arteries) and so raising blood pressure. It is used therapeutically to treat shock

Norwegian
People of Norwegian culture. There are 4–4.5 million speakers of Norwegian (including some in the USA), a Germanic language belonging to the Indo-European family. The seafaring culture of the Norwegians can be traced back to the Viking age from about AD 800–1050, when people of Norwegian descent settled Iceland and Greenland, and voya...

notary public
Legal practitioner who attests or certifies deeds and other documents. British diplomatic and consular officials may exercise notarial functions outside the UK

noise
(music) In pop music, a style that relies heavily on feedback, distortion, and dissonance. A loose term that came into use in the 1980s with the slogan `noise annoys`, it has been applied to hardcore punk, grunge, and industrial music, among others

nomadic pastoralism
Farming system where animals (cattle, goats, camels) are taken to different locations in order to find fresh pastures. It is practised in the developing world; out of an estimated 30–40 million (1990) nomadic pastoralists worldwide, most are in central Asia and the Sahel region of West Afric...

North Island
Smaller of the two main islands of New Zealand

Northwest Ordinances
Three US Congressional acts 1784–87 setting out procedures for the sale and settlement of lands still occupied by American Indians. The lands, making up the Northwest Territory, lay between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. They were to be formed into townships and sold at a minimum of $1 per acre. The sales revenue was ...

noncooperation movement
In India, a large-scale civil disobedience campaign orchestrated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 following the Amritsar Massacre in April 1919. Based on a policy of peaceful non-cooperation, the strategy was to bring the British administrative machine to a halt by the total withdrawal of Indian support. British-made goods were boycotted, as w...

Northwest rebellion
Revolt against the Canadian government March–May 1885 by the métis (people of mixed French-Canadian and American Indian descent). Led by their political leader Louis Riel and his military lieutenant Gabriel Dumont (1838–1906), the métis population of what is now Saskatchewan rebelled after a number of economic and political ...

noun phrase
Group of words that has the grammatical function of a noun – there will also be a noun as the dominant word in the phrase. `That old red coat in the cupboard under the stairs has been stolen.` The words before `has` make a noun phrase. Coat is the dominant noun; all the other words ...

Northern Mariana Islands
Archipelago in the northwestern Pacific, with Guam known collectively as the Mariana Islands; area 471 sq km/182 sq mi; population (1995 est) 47,200. The Northern Marianas are a commonwealth in union with the USA. The capital is Garapan on Saipan. The archipelago consists of 16 islands and atolls extending 560 km/350 mi north of Gua...

Norwich School
English regional school of landscape painters, inspired by the 17th-century Dutch realist tradition of landscape painting, notably the work of Ruisdael. Founded in 1803, the school was made up of both professional and amateur artists and flourished until the 1830s. Its leading members were John Sell Cotman and John Crome. They constituted a loc...

non-objective art
Art that is not representational, containing no recognizable figures or objects. The term has become less popular, but was originally used to describe a type of abstract art, influenced by cubism, that eliminated the idea of depth, and instead concentrated on composing a harmonious arrangement of grids, shapes, and colour. The nonobjective neoplast...

Norman Conquest
Invasion and settlement of England by the Normans, following the victory of William (I) the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The story of the conquest from the Norman point of view is told in the Bayeux Tapestry. William, Duke of Normandy, claimed that the English throne had been promised...

North American Free Trade Agreement
Trade agreement between the USA, Canada, and Mexico, intended to promote trade and investment between the signatories, signed in October 1992, and effective from January 1994. The first trade pact of its kind to link two highly-industrialized countries to a developing one, it created a free market of 375 million people, with a total GDP at that...

North West
Province of the Republic of South Africa from 1994; area 118,710 sq km/45,834 sq mi; population (2000 est) 3,532,800. The capital is Mmabatho. The terrain consists of part of the plateau known as the Highveld, with savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The mining industry employs about a quarter of the working population and Merensky Reef...

Northern Cape
Province of the Republic of South Africa from 1994, formerly part of Cape Province; area 363,389 sq km/140,305 sq mi; population (2000 est) 869,200. The capital is Kimberley; Upington is the only other major urban area. The province is situated in the northwest of the republic, and is bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and t...

Northern Province
(South Africa) Province of the Republic of South Africa from 1994, formerly part of Transvaal; area 119,606 sq km/46,180 sq mi; population (2000 est) 5,495,700. The capital and only major urban centre is Polokwane. The province consists mostly of tropical and subtropical savannah g...

normal distribution curve
Bell-shaped curve that results when a normal distribution is represented graphically by plotting the distribution f(x) against x. The curve is symmetrical about the mean value

Northern Transvaal
Former name of Northern Province, a province of the Republic of South Africa

North East Lincolnshire
Unitary authority in eastern England created in 1996 from part of the former county of Humberside. Area 192 sq km/74 sq mi Towns and cities Grimsby (administrative headquarters), Immingham, Cleethorpes, Humberston, New Waltham, Waltham, Healing, Laceby Features Humber Estuary forms east border of...

North Lincolnshire
Unitary authority in eastern England created in 1996 from part of the former county of Humberside. Area 850 sq km/328 sq mi Towns and cities Scunthorpe (administrative headquarters), Brigg, Barton-upon-Humber, Barrow upon Humber, Epworth Features Humber Estuary forms north border; River Trent; Isle of Axholme; Stainforth and...

North Somerset
Unitary authority in southwest England created in 1996 from part of the former county of Avon. Area 372 sq km/144 sq mi Towns and cities Weston-Super-Mare (administrative headquarters), Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead Features Severn Estuary forms northwest border of authority; River Ye...

North Ayrshire
Unitary authority in western Scotland, created in 1996 from Cunninghame district in Strathclyde region. Area 889 sq km/343 sq mi Towns Irvine (administrative headquarters), Kilwinning, Saltcoats, Largs, Kilbirnie Physical low-lying coastal plain on the mainland, rising inland to a plateau of ...

North Lanarkshire
Unitary authority in central Scotland, created in 1996 from three districts of Strathclyde region. Area 475 sq km/183 sq mi Towns Airdrie, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, Motherwell (administrative headquarters) Physical low-lying, heavily urbanized area; River Clyde Industries paper, pharmaceut...

Northern League, The
See Lombardy League

Norfolk terrier
Breed of dog identical to the Norwich terrier except that the ears drop forward rather than being pricked

Norwich terrier
Small compact breed of terrier. It has a hard and wiry coat, that is close-lying and straight, and is coloured red, black, and tan; red grizzle; or grizzle and tan. Its head is rather foxlike, the muzzle being rather short and the skull wide between the erect ears. The legs are short, straight, and strong; the tail is traditionally ...

Northern Ireland peace process
Process leading to peace, the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the decommissioning of paramilitary arms in Northern Ireland, generally considered as beginning in 1993 when London and Dublin issued the Downing Street Declaration. Ceasefire declarations by the Provisional IRA followed in August 1994 and again in May 1997. Multipart...

Northern Ireland Assembly
Power-sharing assembly based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Assembly came into being as a result of the 10 April 1998 Good Friday peace agreement between the contending Unionist and Irish Nationalist communities in Northern Ireland. The agreement negotiated the devolution (handing over) of a range of executive (administrative) and legislativ...

Norse
Early inhabitant of Norway or Scandinavia; also referring to their language and culture

non-governmental organization
Independent, service-providing, not-for-profit organization involved in a range of activities, including the provision of aid to less developed countries. They are often driven by issues, and the services and support they provide include funding volunteers, and organizing action to promote peace, environmental protection, human rights, ...

North Ossetia
Former name for Alania, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation

noun clause
Group of words that has the grammatical function of a noun. A noun clause is similar to a noun phrase, in that it can function as a subject, object, or complement of a main clause

non-finite verb
In grammar, a verb that is not limited by tense, number, and person. There are three forms: the infinitive, the present participle (or gerund) and the past participle. All verbs have non-finite forms, except modal verbs

Nord-Ostsee-Kanal
German name for Kiel Canal, a waterway in Germany connecting the Baltic with the North Sea

Nouvelle Calédonie
French name for New Caledonia, an island group in the South Pacific

Nord Kapp
Norwegian name for North Cape, the most northerly point of Europe

Nordrhein-Westfalen
German name for North Rhine-Westphalia, an administrative region in northwestern Germany

Noord Brabant
Dutch name for North Brabant, the largest province of the Netherlands

Noord Holland
Dutch name for North Holland, a low-lying coastal province of the Netherlands

non-functional art
Alternative term for the fine arts

NSPCC
Abbreviation for National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (UK)

NT
Abbreviation for Northern Territory, Australia

nutation
(astronomy) In astronomy, slight `nodding` of the Earth in space, caused by the varying gravitational pulls of the Sun and Moon. Nutation changes the angle of the Earth's axial tilt (average 23.5°) by about 9 seconds of arc to either side of its mean position, a complete cyc...

nucleic acid
Complex organic acid made up of a long chain of nucleotides, present in the nucleus and sometimes the cytoplasm of the living cell and in viruses. The two types, known as DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid), form the basis of heredity. The nucleotides are made up of a sugar (deoxyribose or ribose), a phosphate group, and one of f...

nucleus
(biology) Click images to enlargeIn biology, the central, membrane-enclosed part of a eukaryotic cell, containing threads of DNA. It is found in both plant and animal cells. During cell division the threads of DNA coil up to form chromosomes. The...

nuthatch
Any of a group of small birds with short tails and pointed beaks. Nuthatches climb head first up, down, and around tree trunks and branches, foraging for insects and their larvae. (Family Sittidae, order Passeriformes.)

nutcracker
Either of two species of bird similar to a jay, belonging to the crow family. One species is found in the Old World and the other in the New World. (Genus Nucifraga, family Corvidae, order Passeriformes.)

nutation
(botany) In botany, the spiral movement exhibited by the tips of certain stems during growth; it enables a climbing plant to find a suitable support. Nutation sometimes also occurs in tendrils and flower stalks. The direction of the movements, clockwise or anticlockwise, is usually charact...

nut
(botany) Any dry, single-seeded fruit that does not split open to release the seed, such as the chestnut. A nut is formed from more than one carpel, but only one seed becomes fully formed, the remainder aborting. The wall of the fruit, the pericarp, becomes hard and woody, forming the oute...

number
(mathematics) Click images to enlargeSymbol used in counting or measuring. In mathematics, there are various kinds of number. The everyday number system is the decimal (`proceeding by tens`) system, using the base ten. Real numbers in...

nut and bolt
Common method of fastening pieces of metal or wood together. The nut consists of a small block (usually metal) with a threaded hole in the centre for screwing on to a threaded rod or pin (bolt or screw). The method came into use at the turn of the 19th century, following Henry Maudslay's invention of a precision screw-cutting lathe

nutrition
Strategy adopted by an organism to obtain the chemicals it needs to live, grow, and reproduce. These chemicals are nutrients that are absorbed from the environment, such as mineral salts, or chemicals made inside the body of a plant or animal. Nutrition is a term also used to describe the science of food, and its effect on human and animal life, he...

nursing
Care of the sick, the very young, the very old, and the disabled. Organized training originated in 1836 in Germany, and was developed in Britain by the work of Florence Nightingale, who, during the Crimean War, established standards of scientific, humanitarian care in military hospitals. Nurses give day-to-day care and carry out routine med...

Nuremberg
City in Bavaria, Germany, on the River Pegnitz, 149 km/92 mi northwest of Munich; population (2003 est) 486,700, urban agglomeration 1,007,800. Industries include electrical and other machinery, motor vehicles, optical products, precision instruments, textiles, printed materials, and food pro...

Nuku'alofa
Capital and port of Tonga on Tongatapu Island; population (2007 est) 23,900

Nunn, Trevor Robert
English stage director. He was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company 1968–86 and artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, London, England, 1997–2003. He received a Tony award (with John Caird) for his production of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) and for the musical Les Misérables (...

Nujoma, Sam(uel) Daniel Shafiishuna
Namibian left-wing politician, founder and leader of SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organization) from 1958, and Namibia's first president 1990–2005. He was exiled in 1960, and controlled SWAPO's armed struggle against the colonial power of South Africa from Angolan bases in 1966. When the first free elections were held in 1...