Advent: …of the season with an Advent wreath, which consists of four candles—typically three violet and one rose-colored—surrounded by greenery or other decorations. The first candle is lit the first Sunday of Advent, often with a prayer or devotion, and the following week the first and second candles are lit, and…

Adventist, member of any one of a group of Protestant Christian churches that trace their origin to the United States in the mid-19th century and that are distinguished by their emphasis on the belief that the personal, visible return of Christ in glory (i.e., the Second Coming) is close at hand, a

Adventist, member of any one of a group of Protestant Christian churches that trace their origin to the United States in the mid-19th century and that are distinguished by their emphasis on the belief that the personal, visible return of Christ in glory (i.e., the Second Coming) is close at hand, a

renal system: Structure of the ureteric wall: …ureter has three layers, the adventitia, or outer layer; the intermediate, muscular layer; and the lining, made up of mucous membrane. The adventitia consists of fibroelastic connective tissue that merges with the connective tissue behind the peritoneum. The muscular coat is composed of smooth (involuntary) muscle fibres and, in the…

bursa: Adventitious, or accidental, bursas arise in soft tissues as a result of repeated subjections to unusual shearing stresses, particularly over bony prominences. Adventitious bursas are not permanent, though they typically form in areas affected by chronic friction, such as the foot. Subcutaneous bursas ordinarily are…

adventitious root, root that arises from any point other than the radicle (embryonic root) or the root axis of a plant. Most adventitious roots arise from stem tissues, but they can also develop from leaves. They are especially numerous on underground stems, such as rhizomes, corms, and tubers, and

malformation: Translocation of organs: An extreme example of adventitious shoot formation is found in Begonia phyllomaniaca after shock. In this instance, small plantlets develop spontaneously in incredible numbers from the superficial cell layers of the leaf blades, petioles, and stems. The adventitious shoots do not arise from preformed buds but develop from cells…

electronic game: Interactive fiction: …the 1970s was Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, probably completed in 1977. Text-based games of its ilk have since been known commonly as electronic adventure games. Crowther combined his experiences exploring Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave system and playing Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing games with fantasy themes reminiscent of J.R.R.

electronic adventure game: Action-adventure games: ’s Adventure (1979), loosely based on Crowther’s text-based game, was released for the Atari 2600 home video console. The game used a top-down view and allowed players to carry and use items without inputting text commands.

James Cook: Voyages and discoveries: …and a consort ship, the Adventure. He found no trace of Terra Australis, though he sailed beyond latitude 70° S in the Antarctic, but he successfully completed the first west–east circumnavigation in high latitudes, charted Tonga and Easter Island during the winters, and discovered New Caledonia in the Pacific and…

Victor Fleming: The 1940s: …when he released the much-publicized Adventure, Gable’s first film following his service in World War II. However, few moviegoers were excited by the unlikely pairing of Gable and Greer Garson. The strained romantic comedy was a major box-office disappointment, and it ended Fleming’s long and illustrious tenure at MGM. His…

Television: …like its more polished follow-up, Adventure (1978), sold much better in Britain. Prior to Marquee Moon, Hell left to form the Heartbreakers (with ex-New York Doll Johnny Thunders), then fronted the Voidoids. Television disbanded in 1978, reuniting briefly in 1992 for an eponymous album and tour. The group reunited again…

celery-top pine, (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius), slow-growing ornamental and timber conifer (family Podocarpaceae), native to temperate rainforests of Tasmania at elevations from sea level to 750 metres (2,500 feet). The dense golden-brown wood is used in fine furniture. The tree is shrubby at high

electronic adventure game, electronic game genre characterized by exploring, puzzle solving, narrative interactions with game characters, and, for action-adventure games, running, jumping, climbing, fighting, and other intense action sequences. Many modern electronic games, such as role playing

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: …jai tor ra nong (2003; The Adventure of Iron Pussy), a tongue-in-cheek Asian soap opera, the third in a series featuring a transvestite secret agent.

playground: …playground design is the “adventure” playground. Inspired by Scandinavian and British playground reformers, this design attempts to allow for a child-oriented perspective in play; children are, for instance, encouraged in these playgrounds to build their own appropriate play structures. This shift in philosophy can also be seen in the…

radio: Juvenile action and adventure series: The first radio shows for children were heard only on local stations, such as Uncle Wip, which was on Philadelphia’s WIP in 1921. The best-known host of this kind of show was Uncle Don Carney, who became a radio institution with his show…

Ryan Reynolds: Hollywood career: …Waiting (2005), Just Friends (2005), Adventureland (2009), and The Change-Up (2011); the romantic comedies Definitely, Maybe (2008) with Rachel Weisz and The Proposal (2009) opposite Sandra Bullock; and the action movies Smokin’ Aces (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009),

Samuel Johnson: From The Rambler to The Adventurer: With The Rambler (1750–52), a twice-weekly periodical, Johnson entered upon the most successful decade of his career. He wrote over 200 numbers, and stories abound of his finishing an essay while the printer’s boy waited at the door; in his last essay he…

Théodore-Agrippa d’ Aubigné: …ranges more widely in the Adventures du baron de Faeneste (1617), in which the Gascon Faeneste represents attachment to outward appearances (le paraître) while honest squire Énay, embodying the principle of true being (l’être), tries to clear Faeneste’s mind of cant. The Histoire universelle deals with the period from 1553…

Albert Goldbarth: Culture (1990), The Gods (1993), Adventures in Ancient Egypt (1996), Beyond (1998), Saving Lives (2001), Everyday People (2012), and The Loves and Wars of Relative Scale (2017). Goldbarth also wrote essays, including those collected in Great Topics of the World (1996) and Many

Vincent D’Onofrio: …had a small role in Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and a more substantial part in Mystic Pizza (1988).

Georg Charles von Hevesy: …published works include the two-volume Adventures in Radioisotope Research (1962).

John Hawkes: Hawkes’s later works include Adventures in the Alaskan Skin Trade (1985), whose narrator is a middle-aged woman; Whistlejacket (1988); Sweet William: A Memoir of Old Horse (1993), written in the voice of a horse; The Frog (1996); and An Irish Eye (1997), whose narrator is a 13-year-old female orphan.…

William Goldman: …Man, and a popular memoir, Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (1983), in which he famously quipped about Hollywood being a place where “nobody knows anything.” In 1987 he adapted The Princess Bride for film, and it later became a cult classic. His career…

Spanish Civil War: …Hope (1938) by André Malraux, Adventures of a Young Man (1939) by John Dos Passos, and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway; George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia (1938); Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica

Edward John Trelawny: …midshipman in his semiautobiographical novel Adventures of a Younger Son (1831).

The Adventures of Augie March, novel by Saul Bellow, published in 1953. It is a picaresque story of a poor Jewish youth from Chicago, his progress, sometimes highly comic, through the world of the 20th century, and his attempts to make sense of it. The book won the National Book Award for fiction

Terry Gilliam: Gilliam’s next film, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), was plagued by so many budget problems and production setbacks that it inspired talk of a “Gilliam curse.” Nevertheless, it emerged as one of his most visually stunning works.

Baron Münchhausen: …the basis for the collection The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Washington Irving: …Prairies (1835), Astoria (1836), and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837). Except for four years (1842–46) as minister to Spain, Irving spent the remainder of his life at his home, “Sunnyside,” in Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits.

Dav Pilkey: In the first book, The Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997), George and Harold find a magical ring and use it to hypnotize their mean school principal, Mr. Krupp, who becomes Captain Underpants every time he is hypnotized. Other books in the series include Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot…

English literature: Other novelists: …and gravely about friendship in The Adventures of David Simple (1744, with a sequel in 1753). Charlotte Lennox in The Female Quixote (1752) and Richard Graves in The Spiritual Quixote (1773) responded inventively to the influence of Miguel de Cervantes, also discernible in the

Eliza Haywood: …subsequently wrote the experimental novel The Adventures of Eovaai, Princess of Ijaveo (1736) and attacked Samuel Richardson’s landmark Pamela (1740) with her satirical novel Anti-Pamela (1741).

Tobias Smollett: The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom (now, with The History and Adventures of an Atom, the least regarded of his novels) appeared in 1753. It sold poorly, and Smollett was forced into borrowing from friends and into further hack writing. In June 1753 he visited…

Alain-René Lesage: Lesage’s Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–1735; The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane) is one of the earliest realistic novels. It concerns the education and adventures of an adaptable young valet as he progresses from one master to the next. In the service of…

James Justinian Morier: …whose fame depends on The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824), a picaresque romance of Persian life that long influenced English ideas of Persia; its Persian translation (1905) led to the development of the modern Persian novel of social criticism. The first of a series of novels written by…

George Meredith: Mature works. of George Meredith: With The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871), however, Meredith returned to what was his forte—romantic comedy. Once more he wrote a close study of a father–son relationship, only this time the father is an impostor who out-Micawbers Dickens’ Mr. Micawber in his belief that something will…

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, novel by Mark Twain, published in the United Kingdom in 1884 and in the United States in 1885. The book’s narrator is Huckleberry Finn, a youngster whose artless vernacular speech is admirably adapted to detailed and poetic descriptions of scenes, vivid

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, novel by Mark Twain, published in the United Kingdom in 1884 and in the United States in 1885. The book’s narrator is Huckleberry Finn, a youngster whose artless vernacular speech is admirably adapted to detailed and poetic descriptions of scenes, vivid

Western philosophy: Bergson, Dewey, and Whitehead: …Process and Reality (1929), and Adventures of Ideas (1933)—was directed.

Philip Pullman: Other works: …he published the graphic novel The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship, which features illustrations by Fred Fordham. Pullman’s works have been translated into many languages, and he was internationally one of the best-known writers for children at the turn of the 21st century.

Rudolfo Anaya: Anaya’s other fictional works included The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas (1985), Alburquerque (1992; the title gives the original spelling of the city’s name), Randy Lopez Goes Home (2011), and the novella The Old Man’s Love Story (2013). His series of mystery novels featuring Chicano private investigator Sonny Baca included Zia…

Robert Coover: Books: …Wife (1996); Ghost Town (1998); The Adventures of Lucky Pierre: Director’s Cut (2002), the tale of an idolized pornographic-film actor who lives in a society of limitless sexual extravagance; and Noir (2010), Coover’s metafictional take on the hard-boiled detective story. His later novels include The Brunist Day of Wrath (2014),…

Archie Mayo: Films of the 1930s: Mayo’s first freelance project was The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938), a tongue-in-cheek account (scripted by Sherwood) of the Venetian adventurer (Gary Cooper). Next was Youth Takes a Fling (1938), a romantic comedy with a New York shopgirl (Andrea Leeds) pursuing a truck driver (McCrea). They Shall Have Music (1939),…

Irving Rapper: Heyday at Warner Brothers: The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) was a rather plodding take on the great writer’s life; March played the title role, and Alexis Smith was cast as his wife, Olivia. Rapper next made The Corn Is Green (1945), an adaptation of a hit Broadway play…

English literature: Prose styles, 1550–1600: The unique exception is Gascoigne’s Adventures of Master F.J. (1573), a tale of thwarted love set in an English great house, which is the first success in English imaginative prose. Gascoigne’s story has a surprising authenticity and almost psychological realism (it may be autobiographical), but even so it is heavily…

radio: Situation comedy: …radio and television, as was The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which starred former bandleader Ozzie Nelson, his real-life wife, Harriet Hilliard Nelson, and, eventually, their two sons, David and Ricky.

Peregrine Pickle, picaresque novel by Tobias Smollett, published in four volumes in 1751 and modified for a second edition in 1758. This very long work concerning the adventures of the egotistical scoundrel Peregrine Pickle is a comic and savage portrayal of 18th-century society. Peregrine’s

animation: Animation in Europe: Her The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) may have been the first animated feature; it required more than two years of patient work and earned her the nickname “The Mistress of Shadows,” as bestowed on her by Jean Renoir. Her other works include Dr. Dolittle and…

ABBA: Cultural significance and reunion: …soundtracks of such films as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and Muriel’s Wedding (1994). The group’s enduring appeal was amply demonstrated by the massive success of ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits (1992). The compilation sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it ABBA’s most commercially successful…

The Adventures of Robin Hood, American romantic adventure film, released in 1938, that is considered one of the great cinematic adventures and starred Errol Flynn in what became the defining role of his career. The film tells the tale of Robin Hood, with Flynn as the legendary bandit trying to aid

Roderick Random, picaresque novel by Tobias Smollett, published in 1748. Modeled after Alain-René Lesage’s Gil Blas, the novel consists of a series of episodes that give an account of the life and times of the Scottish rogue Roderick Random. At various times rich and then poor, the hero goes to

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, American mystery-detective film, released in 1939, that was the second to feature the popular pairing of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the classic Arthur Conan Doyle characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively. The film was ostensibly based on a

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of 12 Sherlock Holmes tales, previously published in monthly installments in The Strand Magazine between July 1891 and June 1892, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1892. “To Sherlock Holmes she is always ’the woman.’” So begins “A

Tobias Smollett: …his experiences for his novel The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1762), which was serialized in The British Magazine, of which Smollett became editor in 1760.

Superman: The Man of Steel in the Golden Age: …the movie’s syndicated television spin-off Adventures of Superman (1952–58).

children’s literature: The creation of worlds: …four volumes (1952–61) about the Borrowers, with their brief pendant, Poor Stainless (1971), ask the reader to accept only a single impossibility, that in a quiet country house, under the grandfather clock, live the tiny Clock family: Pod, Homily, and their daughter Arrietty. All that follows from this premise is…

Dandin: …2005 by Isabelle Onians as What Ten Young Men Did, and the Kavyadarsha (“The Mirror of Poetry”).

Tintin: The Adventures of Tintin (2011), an animated film directed by Steven Spielberg, was among several screen adaptations of the series.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Other works: …Farmer Giles of Ham (1949); The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (1962), poetry related to The Lord of the Rings; Tree and Leaf (1964), with the seminal lecture “On Fairy-Stories” and the tale “Leaf by Niggle”; and the fantasy Smith of Wootton Major (1967).

Norman Taurog: Musical comedies and Boys Town: Selznick production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938). It is arguably the best screen version of the classic tale, with stunning cinematography by James Wong Howe and notable production designs by William Cameron Menzies; several other directors, including George Cukor and William A. Wellman, also worked on…

Simplicissimus, novel by Hans Jacob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, the first part of which was published in 1669 as Der abentheurliche Simplicissimus Teutsch (“The Adventurous Simplicissimus Teutsch”). Considered one of the most significant works of German literature, it contains a satirical and

adverb, a word or phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a clause, or a sentence. It is one of eight parts of speech in English grammar. Adverbs supply information to a sentence or a context by describing where, when, how, or to what degree something happens. Some adverbs are

adversary procedure, in law, one of the two methods of exposing evidence in court (the other being the inquisitorial procedure). The adversary procedure requires the opposing sides to bring out pertinent information and to present and cross-examine witnesses. This procedure is observed primarily in

adversary procedure, in law, one of the two methods of exposing evidence in court (the other being the inquisitorial procedure). The adversary procedure requires the opposing sides to bring out pertinent information and to present and cross-examine witnesses. This procedure is observed primarily in

disparate impact, judicial theory developed in the United States that allows challenges to employment or educational practices that are nondiscriminatory on their face but have a disproportionately negative effect on members of legally protected groups. When the U.S. Supreme Court first recognized

adverse possession, in Anglo-American property law, holding of property under some claim of right with the knowledge and against the will of one who has a superior ownership interest in the property. Its legal significance is traced back to the English common-law concept known as seisin, a

Adverse selection is a term used in economics and insurance to describe a market process in which buyers or sellers of a product or service are able to use their private knowledge of the risk factors involved in the transaction to maximize their outcomes, at the expense of the other parties to the

Anthony Adverse, fictional character, hero of the historical novel Anthony Adverse (1933) by Hervey Allen. Adverse is an illegitimate but well-born child and the heir to his wealthy grandfather, under whom he

Christianity: Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy: Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon, in Against Heresies, ranked Marcion with the “gnostics” because at least one facet of Marcion’s error was his depreciation of the material creation. The gnostics invented complex cosmogonies in order to remove the true God from responsibility for the evils of matter, release from which was…

Tertullian: Literary activities: …evil god of the Jews), Adversus Hermogenem (“Against Hermogenes,” a Carthaginian painter who claimed that God created the world out of preexisting matter), Adversus Valentinianos (“Against Valentinus,” an Alexandrian gnostic, or religious dualist), and De resurrectione carnis (“Concerning the Resurrection of the Flesh”). He also wrote the first Christian book…

St. Jerome: Major literary works of St. Jerome: …Jerome wrote a polemical diatribe Adversus Jovinianum (393) that was frequently brilliant but needlessly crude, excessively influenced by the 2nd- and 3rd-century theologian Tertullian, whose writings were at times unnecessarily harsh toward marriage. Against the priest Vigilantius, Jerome dictated in one night a defense of monasticism, clerical celibacy, and certain…

Tertullian: Literary activities: …theological problems against specific opponents: Adversus Marcionem (“Against Marcion,” an Anatolian heretic who believed that the world was created by the evil god of the Jews), Adversus Hermogenem (“Against Hermogenes,” a Carthaginian painter who claimed that God created the world out of preexisting matter), Adversus Valentinianos (“Against Valentinus,” an Alexandrian…

skepticism: Ancient skepticism: …his Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Adversus mathematicos, Sextus presented the tropes developed by previous Pyrrhonists. The 10 tropes attributed to Aenesidemus showed the difficulties encountered by attempts to ascertain the truth or reliability of judgments based on sense information, owing to the variability and differences of human and animal perceptions.…

patristic literature: Late 2nd to early 4th century: …by 300) sought in his Adversus nationes (“Against the Pagans”), like Tertullian and Cyprian before him, to free Christianity from the charge of having caused all the evils plaguing the empire, but ended up by launching a violent attack on the contemporary pagan cults. A surprising feature of this ill-constructed,…

Monarchianism: …by Tertullian in the tract Adversus Praxean (c. 213), an important contribution to the doctrine of the Trinity.

advertisement, a public announcement—generally print, audio, or video—made to promote a commodity, service, or idea through various media, including billboards, direct mail, print magazines and newspapers, radio, television, and the World Wide Web. While advertising is used to a limited extent in

Norman Mailer: …for attention with the book Advertisements for Myself, a collection of unfinished stories, parts of novels, essays, reviews, notebook entries, or ideas for fiction. The miscellany’s naked self-revelation won the admiration of a younger generation seeking alternative styles of life and art. Mailer’s subsequent novels, though not critical successes, were…

Traiano Boccalini: …Earl of Monmouth, and called Advertisements from Parnassus; in Two Centuries with the Politick Touch-stone (1656). This and other European translations influenced Miguel de Cervantes, Joseph Addison, and Jonathan Swift.

advertising, the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised. Most advertising involves promoting a good that is for sale, often through brand

marketing: Advertising agencies: Advertising agencies are responsible for initiating, managing, and implementing paid marketing communications. In addition, some agencies have diversified into other types of marketing communications, including public relations, sales promotion, interactive media, and direct marketing. Agencies typically consist of four departments: account management, a…

advertising, the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised. Most advertising involves promoting a good that is for sale, often through brand

advertising coloration, in animals, the use of biological coloration to make an organism unique and highly visible as compared with the background, thereby providing easily perceived information as to its location, identity, and movement. Such advertisement may serve the function of attracting

advertising fraud, misleading representation of goods or services conveyed through false or fraudulent claims or statements that are promoted by a business or other advertising agent. A statement or representation in an advertisement may also be false or fraudulent when it constitutes a half-truth.

consumer advocacy: Controls on advertising: …Internet is regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an independent body. The ASA enforces an industry-written code on behalf of a statutory regulator, the Office of Communications (OFCOM). The ASA bans the use, for instance, of subliminal advertising (methods by which the listener or viewer might be influenced without…

American Association of Political Consultants: …organization founded in 1969 for political consultants, lobbyists, media producers, fund-raisers, and campaign workers at all levels of government. The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) is a multi-partisan organization. Headquarters are in McLean, Virginia.

library: Library planning: …pour dresser une bibliothèque (1627; Advice on Establishing a Library). This work marked the transition to the age of modern library practice. One of its first fruits was the library of the diarist Samuel Pepys; in the last 14 years of his life Pepys devoted much time to the organization…

George Berkeley: Period of his major works: …his loyalty by publishing his Advice to the Tories Who Have Taken the Oaths. He was abroad again from 1716 to 1720 in Italy, acting as tutor to George Ashe, son of the bishop of Clogher (later of Derry); his four travel diaries give vivid pictures of sightseeing in Rome…

ibuprofen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used in the treatment of minor pain, fever, and inflammation. Like aspirin, ibuprofen works by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins, body chemicals that sensitize nerve endings. The drug may irritate the gastrointestinal tract. Marketed under

library: Library planning: …pour dresser une bibliothèque (1627; Advice on Establishing a Library). This work marked the transition to the age of modern library practice. One of its first fruits was the library of the diarist Samuel Pepys; in the last 14 years of his life Pepys devoted much time to the organization…

Otto Preminger: Later films: Advise & Consent (1962) was a popular adaptation of the Allen Drury novel about political gamesmanship in Washington, D.C. The film, which centered on the Senate confirmation for a secretary of state nominee, boasted a fine cast that included Fonda, Charles Laughton, Lew Ayres, Burgess…

Otto Preminger: Later films: Advise & Consent (1962) was a popular adaptation of the Allen Drury novel about political gamesmanship in Washington, D.C. The film, which centered on the Senate confirmation for a secretary of state nominee, boasted a fine cast that included Fonda, Charles Laughton, Lew Ayres, Burgess…

American Association of Political Consultants: …organization founded in 1969 for political consultants, lobbyists, media producers, fund-raisers, and campaign workers at all levels of government. The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) is a multi-partisan organization. Headquarters are in McLean, Virginia.

education: Education in British colonies and former colonies: In 1925 an Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies, created in 1924 and presided over by William Ormsby-Gore, published an important report. The ideas, principles, and methods formulated in this document covered the matters involved in defining a policy—namely, the encouragement and control of private educational institutions,…

nuclear weapon: Producing a controlled chain reaction: The president appointed an Advisory Committee on Uranium, which reported on November 1, 1939, that a chain reaction in uranium was possible, though unproved. Chain-reaction experiments with carbon and uranium were started in New York City at Columbia University, and in March 1940 it was confirmed that the isotope…

Washington, D.C.: Government of Washington, D.C.: …the District charter to establish Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs), and the first elections of the commissioners were held two years later. The ANCs, representing more than 100 neighborhoods in eight wards, are made up of residents who advise and present recommendations on policies affecting their neighbourhood.

advisory opinion, in law, the opinion of a judge, a court, or a law official, such as an attorney general, upon a question of law raised by a public official or legislative body. Advisory opinions adjudicate nothing and are not binding, though courts sometimes cite them as evidence of the law.

interest group, any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favour. All interest groups share a desire to affect government policy to benefit themselves or their causes.

advocacy network, organization consisting of independent groups that collaborate in the pursuit of political change. Advocacy networks are made up primarily of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) but may also include individuals or groups from the public or private sector, foundations, academia,