Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Utilitarianism ...

Utilitarianism: in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce ...
utility and value: in economics, the determination of the prices of goods and services.
Utkal Plains: coastal plains in eastern Orissa state, eastern India. Extending over approximately 16,000 sq mi (41,400 sq km) and fronting the Bay of Bengal on the east, the plains are bounded by the Tamilnad Plain on the south, the Lower Ganges ...
Uto-Aztecan languages: family of American Indian languages spoken in Mexico, northern Guatemala, and the western United States. The Uto-Aztecan languages are recognized by modern linguists as falling into eight groups, four of which make up the Shoshonean division and three the Sonoran ...
utopia: an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence "utopian" and "utopianism" are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic.
Utopia Planitia: northern lava plain on the planet Mars that was selected as the landing site of the U.S. Viking 2 planetary probe. Photographs transmitted from the Viking 2 lander, which touched down at 47.97° N, 225.74° W, on September 3, 1976, ...
Utraquist: any of the spiritual descendants of Jan Hus who believed that the laity, like the clergy, should receive the Eucharist under the forms of both bread and wine (Latin utraque, "each of two"; calix, "chalice"). Unlike the militant Taborites (also ...
Utrecht: provincie, central Netherlands, the country's smallest, with an area of 514 square miles (1,331 square km). It extends southward from the narrow Lake Eem, which separates Utrecht provincie from the South Flevoland polder of Flevoland provincie. Utrecht provincie lies between ...
Utrecht: gemeente (commune) and capital, Utrecht provincie, central Netherlands. It lies along the Kromme Rijn (Winding, or Crooked, Rhine), Oude (Old) Rijn, and Vecht rivers and the Amsterdam-Rijn Canal. Its original Roman name, Trajectum ad Rhenum (Ford on the Rhine), later ...
Utrecht school: principally a group of three Dutch painters-Dirck van Baburen (c. 1590-1624), Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656; see ), and Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588-1629)-who went to Rome and fell fully under the pervasive influence of Caravaggio's art before returning to Utrecht. Although none ...
Utrecht, State University of: state-supported coeducational institution of higher learning founded in 1636 at Utrecht, Neth. In the 17th and 18th centuries Utrecht attracted many foreign students, especially from England and Scotland. James Boswell, Samuel Johnson's biographer, studied law at Utrecht (1763-64).
Utrecht, treaties of: (April 1713-September 1714), a series of treaties between France and other European powers (April 11, 1713 to Sept. 7, 1714) and another series between Spain and other powers (July 13, 1713 to June 26, 1714), concluding the War of the ...
Utrera: city, Seville provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It lies southeast of the city of Seville on the Arroyo de la Antigua, which is a tributary of the Guadalquivir River.
Utrillo, Maurice: French painter who was noted for his depictions of the houses and streets of the Montmartre district of Paris.
Utsunomiya: capital, Tochigi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The city is situated on the alluvial plain between the Ta River and the Kinu River. A castle town in the 11th century, it later served as a post town on the Nikko Highway ...
Uttar Pradesh: the most populous state of India. Lying in north-central India, it is bordered by Nepal and the Indian state of Uttaranchal to the north, the Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan and the union territory of Delhi to the west, ...
Uttaradit: town, northern Thailand. It is a provincial capital and a farming market centre on the Nan River and the Bangkok-Chiang Mai railway. The town centre was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire in 1967. The Pha Then Buddhist shrine ...
Uttlesford: district, administrative and historic county of Essex, England. It occupies the northwestern corner of the county, where it borders Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. A low ridge of chalk hills runs from southwest to northeast through a rolling countryside. The district is ...
Utzon, Jrn: Danish architect best known for his dynamic, imaginative, but problematic design for the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
Uummannaq Fjord: inlet of Baffin Bay and town, western Greenland, north of Nuussuaq Peninsula, separated from Karrat Isfjord by Upernivik and Ubekendt islands. About 100 miles (160 km) long and 15-30 miles (24-48 km) wide, Uummannaq divides into several smaller fjords extending ...
Uvalde: city, seat (1856) of Uvalde county, southwestern Texas, U.S. It lies along the Leona River, some 85 miles (135 km) west-southwest of San Antonio. Fort Inge was built (1849) on the Leona's east bank, and the site was settled in ...
Uvarov, Sergey Semyonovich, Count: (Graf) Russian statesman and administrator, an influential minister of education during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I.
uvarovite: calcium chromium garnet found as small, brilliant, green crystals. It is the rarest of all the garnets, and its crystals commonly are too small to be cut. Otherwise, it would rival emerald as a popular gemstone because of its beautiful ...
uveitis: inflammation of the uvea, the middle coat of the eyeball, which is pigmented and contains blood vessels. The uvea consists of three parts: the iris, the ciliary body (containing the muscle that controls the curvature of the lens), and the ...
Uwajima: city, Ehime ken (prefecture), Shikoku, Japan. It faces the Bungo Channel between the Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Uwajima developed as a castle town in the late 16th century. Connected by rail to major ports on the Inland Sea ...
Uxmal: ruined ancient Maya city in Yucatan state, Mexico, about 90 miles (150 km) west-southwest of Chichen Itza and 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Mayapan. By road, it is some 50 miles (80 km) south of the modern city of ...
Uyo: town, capital of Akwa Ibom state, southeastern Nigeria. Uyo lies on the road from Oron to Ikot Ekpene. A collecting station for palm oil and kernels, it is also a local trade centre (yams, cassava, palm produce) for an area ...
Uyuni: town, southwestern Bolivia. It lies on the cold, windswept Altiplano, a high intermontane plateau, at 12,024 feet (3,665 m) above sea level, just east of the vast Uyuni Salt Flat. Founded in 1890, it prospered, with the assistance of Slav ...
Uyuni Salt Flat: arid, windswept salt flat in southwestern Bolivia. It lies on the Altiplano, at 11,995 feet (3,656 m) above sea level. The Uyuni Salt Flat is Bolivia's largest salt-encrusted waste area (approximately 4,085 square miles [10,582 square km]) and is separated ...
Uzbek: any member of a Central Asian people found chiefly in Uzbekistan, but also in other parts of Central Asia and in Afghanistan. The Uzbeks speak either of two dialects of Uzbek, a Turkic language of the Altaic family of languages. ...
Uzbek khanate: any of the three states that ruled Transoxania, in present-day Uzbekistan, before it came under Russian rule in the 19th century. The khanates of Bukhara and Khiva (Khwarezm) were established by two branches of the Shaybanid dynasty, which won control ...
Uzbek language: member of the Turkic language subfamily of the Altaic family, spoken in Uzbekistan, eastern Turkmenistan, northern and western Tajikistan, southern Kazakstan, northern Afghanistan, and northwestern China. Uzbek belongs to the southeastern, or Chagatai, branch of the Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan: country in Central Asia. It lies mainly between two major rivers, the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) on the northeast and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) on the southwest, though they only partly form its boundaries. Uzbekistan is bordered ...
Uzhhorod: city, western Ukraine. It is situated along the Uzh River just east of the Slovakian border. Uzhhorod has long been an important cultural, educational, religious, and economic centre of the Carpathian region. First mentioned in chronicles in 872 and founded ...
Uzi submachine gun: compact automatic weapon that is used throughout the world as a police and special-forces firearm. The Uzi is named for its designer, Uziel Gal, an Israeli army officer who developed it after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Gal based his ...
Uzice: town, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. It lies along the Djetinja River and the Sarajevo-Cacak-Belgrade railway line. A medieval town of strategic importance, Uzice was the headquarters for the Partisan army in autumn 1941. It was renamed in honour of Josip ...
Uzun Hasan: ruler (1453-78) of the Turkmen Ak Koyunlu dynasty, who created a short-lived empire in Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.
Uzziah: in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 26), son and successor of Amaziah, and king of Judah for 52 years (c. 791-739 BC).