quasi- +

(Latin: appearing as if, as it were, as though; somewhat like, resembling, seemingly; simulating; in a certain sense or degree)


quasar
Short for quasi-stellar radio source.

A compact, starlike celestial body with a power output greater than our entire galaxy. Believed to be the oldest and most distant objects ever detected, quasars are billions of light-years from earth and moving away from us at nearly 80 percent of the speed of light.

Quasars appear to be stars, but they have large red shifts in their spectra indicating that they are receding from the earth at great speeds.

Their exact nature is still unknown, but many believe quasars to be the cores of distant galaxies, the most distant objects yet seen.

Quasars were first identified in 1963 by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California.

quasi
1. In law, just as valid in law as if actual.
2. Resembling somebody or something in some ways, but not exactly the same.
3. This term is used in legal phraseology to indicate that one subject resembles another, with which it is compared, in certain characteristics, but that there are intrinsic and material differences between them.
quasi atom, quasi-atomic
A system in which the nuclei of two colliding atoms briefly overlap, so that they seem to be one atom with a combined atomic number.
quasi cash, quasi-cashed, quasi-cashing
1. A transaction similar to cash; such as, the purchase of lottery tickets or betting chips. These are usually subject to transaction fees.

Quasi-cash document information is electronically generated utilizing the desired dollar amount and at least a portion of the parsed customer identification information. A quasi-cash document is printed, with the quasi-cash document including and displaying the generated quasi-cash document information.

In one preferred embodiment, customer identification information parsed from the retrieved machine readable information includes customer name, customer address, and identification card number information.

2. "Quasi-Cash Advance" transactions are monetary transactions posting to a person's account which are not "purchase" transactions and include, but are not limited to, wire transfers, foreign currency, traveler's checks, money orders, remote stored value, and purchase of gaming chips.
quasi corporation
A public or municipal body or organization not specifically incorporated or vested with all of the usual powers of a corporation but exercising certain corporate functions and rights in connection with public duties.

In the United States, counties, townships, parishes, etc., are sometimes such quasi corporations.

quasicratonic, quasi-cratonic
Describing a region of oceanic crust at the margin of a continent that is believed to have been continental mterial which stretched and foundered during expansion.
quasi crystal
A form of solid matter whose atoms are arranged like those of a crystal but assume patterns that do not exactly repeat themselves.

In a quasicrystal, the pattern of atoms is only quasiperiodic. The local arrangements of atoms are fixed, and in a regular pattern, but are not periodic throughout the entire material: each cell has a different configuration of cells surrounding it.

quasidominance, quasidominant
The property of a heritable recessive trait to appear as if its inheritance is autosomal or X-linked dominant because of the mating of affected individuals with unaffected heterozygous carriers; also known as, pseudodominance or pseudominant.
quasi empericism, quasi-empericistic
An approach to mathematics that views it as a living, growing subject in which proofs and counterexamples are used to generate a constantly changing understanding of mathematical problems and their solutions.
Quasi ex contractu.
In law, "as if from or by contract".
quasi experiment, quasi-experimental
1. A study that has most of the trappings of an experiment, but which is unable to control potential factors, or perhaps is not guided by an idea of what all the factors are.
2. Similar to true experiments in that there are subjects, treatment, etc.; but it uses nonrandomized groups. It incorporates interpretation and transferability in order to compensate for lack of control of variables.

This lack of control sometimes leaves quasi-experiments with dubious outcomes. Often they lack internally consistent logic, and one can often find the potential for circular logic, and other invalid reasoning. Quasi-experiments with controversial outcomes almost always become embroiled in arguments over this lack of internal consistency.

Paradoxically, much of what geologists and geophysicists do is quasi-experimental. Despite the hard-science like appearance of making measurements with instruments, geophysics is plaqued by confounding and the influence of uncontrolled factors. Cause and effect is even difficult to ascertain at times.

A claim that scientists make for quasi-experiments is that they have external validity, by which they mean that the conclusions are widely applicable for the reason that they are drawn from a phenomenon as it exists in the field. To the extent that one may draw correct conclusions from a quasi-experiment, then this claim is true.

quasi-historical
Apparently historical; seeming to be historical.
Quasi in rem jurisdiction.
Type of jurisdiction of a court based on a person's interest in property within the jurisdiction of the court.

Refers to proceedings that are brought against the defendant personally; yet it is the defendant's interest in the property that serves as the basis of the jurisdiction.

quasi instruction, quasi-instructional
In computer science, an expression is a source program that resembles an instruction in form, but which does not have a corresponding machine instruction in the object program, and is directed to the assembler or compiler; also known as, pseudoinstruction.
quasijudicial, quasi-judicial
Used to describe decision-making powers that are similar to those of a court judge, or to describe any arbitrator or inquiry with such powers.

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