• umpire (sports)

    Bill Klem: …considered by many the greatest umpire of all time. Klem is credited with the introduction of hand and arm signals to indicate calls of pitched balls and strikes and foul and fair batted balls. He was also famous for his practice of drawing a line in the dirt with his…

  • ʿumrah (Islam)

    ʿumrah, the “minor pilgrimage” undertaken by Muslims whenever they enter Mecca. It is also meritorious, though optional, for Muslims residing in Mecca. Its similarity to the major and obligatory Islamic pilgrimage (hajj) made some fusion of the two natural, though pilgrims have the choice of

  • Umrisse zu einer Kritik der Nationalökonomie (work by Engels)

    Marxism: The contributions of Engels: …Marx, Engels was finishing his Umrisse zu einer Kritik der Nationalökonomie (Outline of a Critique of Political Economy)—a critique of Smith, Ricardo, Mill, and J.-B. Say. This remarkable study contained in seminal form the critique that Marx was to make of bourgeois political economy in Das Kapital. During the first…

  • umrubhe (musical instrument)

    African music: Musical bows: …the string, but the Xhosa umrubhe is bowed with a friction stick, the xizambi of the Tsonga has serrations along the stave that are scraped with a rattle stick, and the Sotho lesiba (like the gora of the Khoekhoe) is sounded by exhaling and inhaling across a piece of quill…

  • Umsiligasi (king of the Ndebele)

    Mzilikazi was a Southern African king who founded the powerful Ndebele (Matabele) kingdom in what is now Zimbabwe. The greatest Bantu warrior after Shaka, king of the Zulus, Mzilikazi took his Kumalo people more than 500 miles (800 km) from what is now South Africa to the region now known as

  • Umtali (Zimbabwe)

    Mutare, city, eastern Zimbabwe. It originated as Fort Umtali and was built by prospectors in 1890 near the junction of the Sambi and Umtara rivers. Its name was derived from a local word meaning “metal,” probably referring to the nearby ancient goldworkings. The settlement was moved twice so as to

  • Umtata (South Africa)

    Mthatha, town, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. It was the capital of Transkei, a nominally independent but not internationally recognized southern African republic that was reincorporated into South Africa in 1994. Located on the Mthatha (“The Taker”) River (so named because of its destructive

  • umtshingo (musical instrument)

    African music: Flutes: The long Zulu umtshingo has an obliquely cut embouchure; there are no finger holes, but a double range of overblown harmonics is produced by alternately stopping and unstopping the lower end with a finger. Such instruments and many others throughout the continent are played singly, but in many…

  • umu (Inca religion)

    pre-Columbian civilizations: The priesthood: …that a priest’s title was umu, but in usage his title was geared to his functions as diviner of lungs, sorcerer, confessor, and curer. The title of the chief priest in Cuzco, who was of noble lineage, was villac umu. He held his post for life, was married, and competed…

  • Umuahia (Nigeria)

    Umuahia, town, capital of Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the railroad from Port Harcourt to Enugu. It is an agricultural market centre and (since 1916) a collecting point on the railway for the crops of the surrounding region: yams, cassava (manioc), corn (maize), taro, citrus fruits,

  • umuganuro (Burundian festival)

    Burundi: Daily life, social customs, and the arts: …the annual sorghum festival (umuganuro), the occasion for a magnificent display of traditional dances by court dancers (intore). Also participating in the festival are drummers beating the Karyenda (“sacred drum”), an emblem of the monarchy—their performance is intended to give both musical and symbolic resonance to this festival and…

  • Umulirimbyi wa Nyili-ibiremwa (work by Kagame)

    Alexis Kagame: …epic conceived in 1941, is Umulirimbyi wa Nyili-ibiremwa, 3 vol. (1950; “The Singer of the Lord of Creation”), which consists of 35,000 lines arranged into 150 cantos. Lesser-known works include a novella, Matabaro Ajya Iburayi (1938–39; “Matabaro Leaves for Europe”); a historical poem, Umwaduko w’Abazungu muli Afrika yo hagati (1947;…

  • Umur Bey (Aydın ruler)

    Aydın Dynasty: His son and successor, Umur Bey (Umur I; reigned 1334–48), organized a fleet and led expeditions to the Aegean islands, the Balkans, and the Black Sea coasts, intervening in dynastic quarrels and assisting John VI Cantacuzenus in the neighbouring Byzantine Empire.

  • Umur I (Aydın ruler)

    Aydın Dynasty: His son and successor, Umur Bey (Umur I; reigned 1334–48), organized a fleet and led expeditions to the Aegean islands, the Balkans, and the Black Sea coasts, intervening in dynastic quarrels and assisting John VI Cantacuzenus in the neighbouring Byzantine Empire.

  • Umvukwe Range (mountains, Zimbabwe)

    Umvukwe Range, mountain range in northern Zimbabwe, extending about 100 miles (160 km) north from the Hunyani River and rising to a high point of 5,748 feet (1,752 m). The range forms the northern section of an enormous tabular block of igneous rock (norite) and is a major chrome-mining area. Major

  • UMWA (American labor union)

    United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), American labor union, founded in 1890, that has engaged in bitter, often successful disputes with coal mine operators for safe working conditions, fair pay, and other worker benefits throughout its history. An industrial union, the UMWA includes miners in

  • Umwelt (perceptual environment)

    animal behaviour: Sensory-motor mechanisms: …ethologists have adopted the word Umwelt, a German word for environment, to denote an organism’s unique sensory world. The umwelt of a male yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), for example, differs sharply from that of a human. Whereas the human auditory system hears sounds over a wide range of frequencies,…

  • Un (India)

    South Asian arts: Medieval temple architecture: North Indian style of central India: …of these structures is at Un. Though, unfortunately, they are considerably damaged, judging from the remains, they must have been very elegant structures. The best preserved and easily the finest bhūmija temple is the Udayeśvara (1059–82), situated at Udaipur in Madhya Pradesh. The śikhara, based on a stellate plan, is…

  • UN (international organization)

    United Nations (UN), international organization established on October 24, 1945. The United Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its predecessor, the League of Nations, was created by the

  • Un 32 août sur terre (film by Villeneuve [1998])

    Denis Villeneuve: …32 août sur terre (1998; August 32nd on Earth), a dreamlike and atmospheric film about a woman thrown into an existential crisis after surviving a car accident. He then wrote and directed Maelström (2000), another surreal outing, about a woman (Marie-Josée Croze) whose life spins out of control after she…

  • UN Convention to Combat Desertification

    desertification: The global reach of desertification: According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the lives of 250 million people are affected by desertification, and as many as 135 million people may be displaced by desertification by 2045, making it one of the most severe environmental challenges facing humanity.

  • Un Di Velt Hot Geshvign (novel by Wiesel)

    Elie Wiesel: …Wiesel’s first book, in Yiddish, Un di velt hot geshvign (1956; “And the World Has Remained Silent”), abridged as La Nuit (1958; Night), a memoir of a young boy’s spiritual reaction to Auschwitz. It is considered by some critics to be the most powerful literary expression of the Holocaust. His…

  • UN Disengagement Observer Force (United Nations)

    Golan Heights: History: …Golan Heights, monitored by a UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The UNDOF mandate was renewed every six months thereafter.

  • UN Foundation (charity)

    United Nations Foundation, public charity created in 1998 to assist the United Nations (UN) and its humanitarian efforts through advocacy, partnerships, community building, and fundraising. It strives to connect people, ideas, and resources (from governments, businesses, and international

  • Un grido lacerante (novel by Banti)

    Anna Banti: …published Un grido lacerante (A Piercing Cry), in which a woman must determine her real vocation as it relates to her life.

  • Un Heuan (king of Lan Xang)

    Sam Saen Thai was a great sovereign of the Lan Xang kingdom of Laos, whose reign brought peace, prosperity, and stability to the kingdom. The eldest son of Fa Ngum, founder of Lan Xang, Un Heuan was installed as king in 1373. While his father had been a conqueror, Un Heuan excelled in

  • Un Homme si simple… (work by Baillon)

    André Baillon: In Un Homme si simple . . . (1925; “Such a Simple Man . . . ”), confessional in style and written while he was hospitalized, and Chalet 1 (1926), he recounts his experiences of hospitalization. The latter two works and the remarkable story collection Délires…

  • UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon

    Lebanon: Factional wrangling over Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon: …by political tension regarding the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon, charged with investigating the assassination of Rafic al-Hariri. In 2010, when it became apparent that members of Hezbollah were likely to be indicted in connection with the assassination, Hezbollah and its allies demanded that Lebanon reject the tribunal, which led…

  • UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti

    Haiti: Haiti in the 21st century: The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH [French: Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti]) assumed authority over the international intervention in June 2004 with a mandate to maintain security, help stabilize the political process, and monitor and promote human rights. MINUSTAH personnel…

  • Un-American Activities, Committee on (United States history)

    House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, established in 1938 under Martin Dies as chairman, that conducted investigations through the 1940s and ’50s into alleged communist activities. Those investigated during the Red Scare of 1947–54 included

  • UN-Women

    Michelle Bachelet: President: …UN Women (formally called the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). She was again the candidate of the center-left bloc in the 2013 Chilean presidential election. Although she finished at the top of the nine-candidate field in the first round of voting in November, she…

  • Una (river, Europe)

    Bosnia and Herzegovina: Drainage: Una, which flow north and empty into the Sava; the Drina, which flows north, forms part of the eastern boundary with Serbia, and is also a tributary of the Sava; and the Neretva, which flows from the southeast but assumes a sharp southwestern flow through…

  • Una (India)

    Una, town, southwestern Himachal Pradesh state, northern India. It lies along the Soan River at an elevation of 1,815 feet (550 metres), about 60 miles (95 km) northwest of Shimla, the state capital. Una was formerly an important commercial centre, but it declined after all-weather roads were

  • una corda (music)

    keyboard instrument: Modifications in the action: …right and the action-shifting (una corda, or “soft”) pedal at the left.

  • Una, The (American periodical)

    The Una, American publication, founded by Paulina W. Davis in 1853, that was widely recognized as the first periodical of the women’s rights movement. Though several similar journals had appeared the previous year, The Una was the first to be owned, edited, and published by a woman. The inaugural

  • Unabhängige Sozialdemocratische Partei Deutschlands (political party, Germany)

    Social Democratic Party of Germany: History: …of the vote (while the Independent Social Democrats received another 7.6 percent), but the party’s failure to win favorable terms from the Allies at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 (terms embodied in the Treaty of Versailles) and the country’s severe economic problems led to a drop in support. Nevertheless,…

  • Unabomber, the (American criminal)

    Ted Kaczynski was an American criminal who conducted a 17-year (1978–95) bombing campaign that killed 3 and wounded 23 in an attempt to bring about “a revolution against the industrial system.” Kaczynski was a bright child, and he demonstrated an affinity for mathematics from an early age. He

  • Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, The (work by Plath)

    Sylvia Plath: Other works: In 2000 The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, covering the years from 1950 to 1962, was published. A biographical film of Plath starring Gwyneth Paltrow (Sylvia) appeared in 2003. In 2009 Plath’s radio play Three Women was staged professionally for the first time. A volume of Plath’s…

  • unaccented rhyme (linguistics)

    rhyme: Weakened, or unaccented, rhyme occurs when the relevant syllable of the rhyming word is unstressed (bend / frightened). Because of the way in which lack of stress affects the sound, a rhyme of this kind may often be regarded as consonance, which occurs when the…

  • Unaccustomed Earth (stories by Lahiri)

    Jhumpa Lahiri: The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland: …returned to short fiction in Unaccustomed Earth (2008), a collection that likewise takes as its subject the experience of immigration as well as that of assimilation into American culture. The collection received the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her novel The Lowland (2013) chronicles the divergent paths of two…

  • UNAIDS (UN program)

    Hiroshi Nakajima: …Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), an organization that by some accounts Nakajima actively worked to undermine in order to regain political control of the issue.

  • Unaipon, David (Australian inventor, writer, and activist)

    David Unaipon Australian inventor, author, and political activist who was the first Australian Aboriginal person to publish his writing in English. To emphasize the importance of his contribution to Australia, his image is featured on the Australian $50 banknote. Unaipon was born at the Point

  • Unaka Mountains (mountains, United States)

    Unaka Mountains, segments of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountain systems in the southeastern United States. They extend from southwestern Virginia along the Tennessee–North Carolina border into northern Georgia. The main ridges average 5,000 feet (1,500 meters), rising in the Great Smoky

  • Unalaska (island, Alaska, United States)

    Alaska: Relief: The largest islands are Unimak, Unalaska, and Umnak. On the occasionally clear summer days, active volcanoes and such glacier-covered peaks as symmetrical Shishaldin Volcano (9,372 feet [2,857 meters]) on Unimak can be seen. Usually, however, the weather is wet and stormy, the winds horizontal and cutting, and the fog all-pervading.

  • Unalaska (Alaska, United States)

    Aleutian Islands: History: …permanent settlement is that of Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) on Unalaska Island, where Russians built a village in the 1770s. Unalaska is the former headquarters of a large U.S. Coast Guard fleet that patrolled the sealing grounds of the Pribilof Islands to the north; the city’s Russian Orthodox Church of the…

  • UNAM (university, Mexico City, Mexico)

    National Autonomous University of Mexico, government-financed coeducational institution of higher education in Mexico City, founded in 1551. The original university building, dating from 1584, was demolished in 1910, and the university was moved to a new campus (constructed 1949–52) at Pedregal de

  • Unam sanctam (papal bull)

    Christianity: The church and Western states: …in 1302 with the bull Unam Sanctam (“One Holy Church”), the most extreme assertion by any pope of the supremacy of spiritual over secular authority. Revealing how much had changed since the time of Gregory VII, Philip rallied public opinion against the pope, calling the Estates General to session to…

  • UNAMID (international peacekeeping force)

    United Nations Security Council: History: …force known as the hybrid United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), authorized by the Security Council in July 2007. Large-scale UNAMID troop deployment did not begin until 2008, some five years after the violence began, and obstruction by the government of Sudanese Pres. Omar al-Bashir limited the mission’s effectiveness.

  • UNAMIR

    Roméo Dallaire: …Dallaire took command of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). As a lightly armed force of approximately 2,500 troops, UNAMIR was given a mandate to oversee the peace agreement ending a civil war. The death of the Rwandan president, however, whose plane was shot down over Kigali airport in…

  • Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de (Spanish educator, philosopher, and author)

    Miguel de Unamuno was an educator, philosopher, and author whose essays had considerable influence in early 20th-century Spain. Unamuno was the son of Basque parents. After attending the Vizcayan Institute of Bilbao, he entered the University of Madrid in 1880 and in four years received a doctorate

  • Unamuno, Miguel de (Spanish educator, philosopher, and author)

    Miguel de Unamuno was an educator, philosopher, and author whose essays had considerable influence in early 20th-century Spain. Unamuno was the son of Basque parents. After attending the Vizcayan Institute of Bilbao, he entered the University of Madrid in 1880 and in four years received a doctorate

  • Unangam Tunuu language

    Aleut language, one of two branches of the Eskimo-Aleut languages (Eskaleut languages). Two mutually intelligible dialects survive: Eastern Unangam Tunuu (Eastern Aleut) and Atkan Unangam Tunuu (Atkan Aleut). A third dialect, Attu Unangam Tunuu (Attu Aleut), now extinct in Alaska, survives on

  • Unangax̂ (people)

    Aleut, an Indigenous person of the Aleutian Islands and western portion of the Alaska Peninsula of northwestern North America. The name Aleut derives from Russian; depending upon dialect, the people refer to themselves as Unangan or Unangas (the plural of Unangax̂) and Sugpiat (the plural of

  • Unangst, Harry Knowles (American anesthesiologist and researcher)

    Henry Knowles Beecher was an American anesthesiologist and researcher who was an outspoken advocate of ethical standards in human-subjects research and a pioneer in the study of pain, analgesia, and clinical trials that took into account the placebo effect. He also was influential in the growth of

  • Unani medicine

    Unani medicine, a traditional system of healing and health maintenance observed in South Asia. The origins of Unani medicine are found in the doctrines of the ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen. As a field, it was later developed and refined through systematic experiment by the Arabs,

  • Unani tibb

    Unani medicine, a traditional system of healing and health maintenance observed in South Asia. The origins of Unani medicine are found in the doctrines of the ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen. As a field, it was later developed and refined through systematic experiment by the Arabs,

  • Unanimism (French literary movement)

    Unanimism, French literary movement based on the psychological concept of group consciousness and collective emotion and the need for the poet to merge with this transcendent consciousness. Founded by Jules Romains about 1908, Unanimism particularly influenced some members of the Abbaye de Créteil

  • Unanimisme (French literary movement)

    Unanimism, French literary movement based on the psychological concept of group consciousness and collective emotion and the need for the poet to merge with this transcendent consciousness. Founded by Jules Romains about 1908, Unanimism particularly influenced some members of the Abbaye de Créteil

  • Unanswerable (work by Simpson)

    Lorna Simpson: …a series of collages titled Unanswerable (2018). The collages considered the representation of African American women by assembling photographs from vintage Jet and Ebony magazines to create absurd juxtapositions.

  • Unanswered Question, The (work by Ives)

    Charles Ives: In The Unanswered Question (composed before 1908), a string quartet or string orchestra repeats simple harmonies; placed apart from them, a trumpet reiterates a question-like theme that is dissonantly and confusedly commented upon by flutes (optionally with an oboe or a clarinet). In the second movement…

  • Unapologetic (album by Rihanna [2012])

    Rihanna: Later works: Rated R, Talk That Talk, and Unapologetic: …hit “We Found Love,” and Unapologetic (2012), which was anchored by the starry-eyed “Diamonds.” The latter release also controversially featured a duet with Brown, with whom she rekindled her relationship for a brief time. Her eighth studio album, Anti, was released in 2016. Rihanna began working on a new record,…

  • Unarm, Eros (work by Tiller)

    Terence Tiller: …Inward Animal (1943) and especially Unarm, Eros (1947) contain his most highly acclaimed poems, noted for their strong formal pattern, heraldic imagery, and striking sensuousness. Later volumes include Reading a Medal (1957), Notes for a Myth (1968), and That Singing Mesh (1979).

  • unary system (chemistry and physics)

    phase: Unary systems: …representation of a one-component (unary) system, in contrast to a two-component (binary), three-component (ternary), or four-component (quaternary) system. The phases coesite, low quartz, high quartz, tridymite, and cristobalite are solid phases composed of silicon dioxide; each has its own atomic arrangement and distinctive set of physical and chemical properties.…

  • Unas (king of Egypt)

    Unas was the last king of the 5th dynasty (c. 2435–c. 2306 bce) of ancient Egypt and the first pharaoh to inscribe the interior of his pyramid at Ṣaqqārah with religious and magical texts known as Pyramid Texts. According to later king lists, Unas was the last ruler of the 5th dynasty, but the

  • UNASUR (South American organization)

    UNASUR, South American organization created in 2008 to propel regional integration on issues including democracy, education, energy, environment, infrastructure, and security and to eliminate social inequality and exclusion. It was inspired by and modeled after the European Union. UNASUR’s members

  • unau (mammal)

    sloth: Two-toed sloths: Both species of two-toed sloths (family Megalonychidae), also called unaus, belong to the genus Choloepus. Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth (C. didactylus) lives in northern South America east of the Andes and south to the central Amazon basin. Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth (C. hoffmanni) is

  • unavoidable configuration (mathematics)

    four-colour map problem: …a catalog of 1,936 “unavoidable” configurations, at least one of which must be present in any graph, no matter how large. Then they showed how each of these configurations could be reduced to a smaller one so that, if the smaller one could be coloured with four colours, so…

  • Unbearable Bassington, The (work by Saki)

    Saki: ” His novel The Unbearable Bassington (1912) describes the adventures of a fastidious and likable but maladjusted hero, in a manner anticipating that of the early work of the English satirist Evelyn Waugh. Munro was killed in action in World War I.

  • Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (novel by Kundera)

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being, novel by Milan Kundera, first published in 1984 in English and French translations. In 1985 the work was released in the original Czech, but it was banned in Czechoslovakia until 1989. Through the lives of four individuals, the novel explores the philosophical

  • Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (film by Kaufman [1988])

    Philip Kaufman: Adaptations: …years passed before Kaufman brought The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) to the big screen. Kaufman adapted it from Milan Kundera’s novel, and he cowrote the Academy Award-nominated screenplay. The film centers on a womanizing doctor (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) who continues to cheat after getting married; Juliette Binoche and

  • Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The (film by Gormican [2022])

    Nicolas Cage: …a version of himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), an action comedy that references a number of his other movies. The actor also lent his voice to such animated films as The Croods (2013), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), and The Croods: A New Age (2020).

  • Unbedingten (German student organization)

    Adolf Ludwig Follen: …also the leader of the Unbedingten (Uncompromising Ones), or Schwarzen (Blacks), a radical student group whose ideas resulted in the assassination of the conservative dramatist August Kotzebue in 1819. Based on an idealized picture of the medieval Christian empire, Follen’s political ideas were aimed at incorporating the German states into…

  • Unbehagen in der Kultur, Das (work by Freud)

    Sigmund Freud: Religion, civilization, and discontents: …Unbehagen in der Kultur (1930; Civilization and Its Discontents), was devoted to what Rolland had dubbed the oceanic feeling. Freud described it as a sense of indissoluble oneness with the universe, which mystics in particular have celebrated as the fundamental religious experience. Its origin, Freud claimed, is nostalgia for the…

  • Unbelievable (American television miniseries)

    Toni Collette: …rapes in the limited series Unbelievable (2019); for her performance, she received an Emmy nomination. In Pieces of Her (2022), a series based on Karin Slaughter’s best-selling book, Collette played a mother with a mysterious past. Also in 2022 she starred with Colin Firth in The Staircase, a true-crime miniseries…

  • unbound universe (cosmology)

    cosmology: Friedmann-Lemaître models: …as negatively curved spaces (“open” universes). The difference between the approaches of Friedmann and Lemaître is that the former set the cosmological constant equal to zero, whereas the latter retained the possibility that it might have a nonzero value. To simplify the discussion, only the Friedmann models are considered…

  • unbranched hydrocarbon

    hydrocarbon: Physical properties: …number of carbon atoms, an unbranched alkane has a higher boiling point than any of its branched-chain isomers. This effect is evident upon comparing the boiling points (bp) of selected C8H18 isomers. An unbranched alkane has a more extended shape, thereby increasing the number of intermolecular attractive forces that must…

  • Unbreakable (film by Shyamalan [2000])

    M. Night Shyamalan: Breakthrough with The Sixth Sense and beyond: Other successful films followed, including Unbreakable (2000), a superhero story about a train wreck victim (Willis) who, after suffering no injuries, realizes that he possesses special powers; Signs (2002), a science-fiction thriller about a preacher (Mel Gibson) who, after losing his faith, must contend with an alien invasion; and

  • Unbreakable (album by Jackson)

    Janet Jackson: Later albums and acting roles: Unbreakable (2015), billed as a comeback album, used contemporary electronic arrangements to bolster the velvety vocals that had established Jackson as an R&B star.

  • Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (American television series)

    Tina Fey: …notably cocreated the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–19), a comedy about a woman who moves to New York after being rescued from a doomsday cult. In 2018 she added Broadway to her credits with the premiere of the musical Mean Girls. Fey wrote the script for the stage production,…

  • Unbridled (racehorse)

    Kentucky Derby: History: …of 92 with the colt Unbridled.

  • Unbroken (album by Lovato)

    Demi Lovato: 2011–17: Personal struggles, notable albums and other activities: Her third studio album, Unbroken, was released in 2011. It features an R&B sound and was certified gold. The single “Skyscraper” from the album sold 176,000 digital downloads in the first week of release, the then-highest for Lovato. The track, which was about overcoming personal hardships and pain, reflects…

  • Unbroken (film by Jolie [2014])

    Coen brothers: …brothers cowrote the screenplay for Unbroken (2014), based on the true story of an Olympic runner and U.S. Air Force officer who became a Japanese prisoner of war after a plane crash; the film was directed by Angelina Jolie. They also cowrote (with Matt Charman) the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s…

  • UNC (military force)

    Battle of the Chosin Reservoir: Crossing into North Korea: …Inch’ŏn in September 1950, the United Nations Command (UNC), under the direction of U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman’s administration and the UN General Assembly, pursued the remnants of the communist Korean People’s Army into North Korea. On the orders of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of all allied forces in the…

  • UNC (political party, Trinidad and Tobago)

    Trinidad and Tobago: Independent Trinidad and Tobago: …the main opposition party, the United National Congress (UNC), which was supported chiefly by Indo-Trinidadians; the two Tobago seats went to the NAR, led by Robinson. The latter gave his support to the UNC, whose leader, Basdeo Panday, thus became prime minister. Panday was the first Indo-Trinidadian prime minister, and…

  • UNC (political party, Cameroon)

    Cameroon: Political process: …parties; it was renamed the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement in 1985. After significant political unrest and a number of violent clashes, a constitutional amendment in 1990 established a multiparty system. Other major political parties include the National Union for Democracy and Progress, the Cameroon Democratic Union, and the Social Democratic…

  • uncanny valley (proposed phenomenon)

    uncanny valley, theorized relation between the human likeness of an object and a viewer’s affinity toward it. The hypothesis originated in a 1970 essay by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, in which he proposed that as human likeness increases in an object’s design, so does one’s affinity for the

  • Uncaria gambir (plant)

    Rubiaceae: Major genera and species: …is used in tanning, from Uncaria gambir; and kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), which is used in traditional medicine and recreationally as a stimulant. Some trees in the family provide useful timber. Common madder (Rubia tinctorum) was formerly cultivated for the red dye obtained from its roots (alizarin); the roots of

  • Uncas (Mohegan chief)

    Mohegan: …a rebellion by the subchief Uncas led to Mohegan independence. After the destruction of the Pequot in 1637, most of the Pequot survivors and the former Pequot territories came under Mohegan control. Uncas strengthened his position by making an alliance with the English; by the end of King Philip’s War…

  • Uncataquisset (Massachusetts, United States)

    Milton, town (township), Norfolk county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Neponset River, just south of Boston. Settled in 1636 as a part of Dorchester, it was early known as Uncataquisset, from an Algonquian word meaning “head of tidewater,” and was separately incorporated in 1662. At

  • UNCCD

    desertification: The global reach of desertification: According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the lives of 250 million people are affected by desertification, and as many as 135 million people may be displaced by desertification by 2045, making it one of the most severe environmental challenges facing humanity.

  • UNCDF (international organization)

    United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), United Nations (UN) organization established by the General Assembly in 1966 and fully operational in 1974. Headquartered in New York City, the UNDF, a semi-autonomous unit of the United Nations Development Programme, provides grants and loans to the

  • UNCED (international conference [1992])

    United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), conference held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 3–14, 1992), to reconcile worldwide economic development with protection of the environment. The Earth Summit was the largest gathering of world leaders as of 1992, with 117 heads of

  • Uncertain Feeling, That (novel by Amis)

    Kingsley Amis: Amis’s next novel, That Uncertain Feeling (1955), had a similar antihero. A visit to Portugal resulted in the novel I Like It Here (1958), while observations garnered from a teaching stint in the United States were expressed in the novel One Fat Englishman (1963).

  • Uncertain Glory (film by Walsh [1944])

    Raoul Walsh: At Warner Brothers: The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, and White Heat: Walsh and Flynn reteamed for Uncertain Glory (1944), in which a French criminal must make the supreme sacrifice to save 100 hostages held by the Nazis. Their next collaboration, Objective, Burma! (1945), was one of the decade’s best—and grittiest—war movies, with Flynn starring in one of his finest performances as…

  • Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War (essays by Klay)

    War Stories: 13 Modern Writers Who Served in War: Phil Klay: In 2022 Klay released Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War, which drew praise for its engrossing and introspective essays on how decades of involvement in foreign wars after September 11 have affected Americans’ sense of citizenship.

  • uncertainty principle (physics)

    uncertainty principle, statement, articulated (1927) by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. The very concepts of exact position and exact velocity together, in fact, have no

  • UNCF (American organization)

    Theodore Hesburgh: …Education, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Negro College Fund, the U.S. Overseas Development Council, the U.S. Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Harvard University Board of Overseers. He received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of…

  • Unchained (film by Bartlett [1955])

    Dexter Gordon: …acting debut in the film Unchained (1955).

  • Uncharted (film by Fleischer [2022])

    Tom Holland: Spider-Man stardom and other roles: …Wahlberg in the action adventure Uncharted; Holland also coproduced the movie. In addition, he lent his voice to several animated features, including Spies in Disguise (2019) and Onward (2020).

  • uncia (ancient unit of length)

    measurement system: Greeks and Romans: 73 inch); the inch (uncia or pollicus), or 112 Roman foot, was 24.67 mm (0.97 inch); and the palm (palmus), or 14 Roman foot, was 74 mm (2.91 inches).