Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The process or condition of sticking or staying attached.
  • noun Physics The physical attraction or joining of two substances, especially the macroscopically observable attraction of dissimilar substances.
  • noun A condition in which bodily tissues that are normally separate grow together.
  • noun A fibrous band of scar tissue that binds together normally separate anatomical structures.
  • noun Attachment or devotion, as to a religion or belief.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An expression of, or the act by which one expresses, acquiescence in, adherence to, and support of some statement, declaration, or proposal; assent; concurrence.
  • noun The act or state of adhering, or of being united and attached; close connection or association: as, the adhesion of parts united by growth, cement, etc.; inflammatory adhesion of surfaces in disease.
  • noun Steady attachment of the mind or feelings; firmness in opinion; adherence: as, an adhesion to vice.
  • noun Assent; concurrence.
  • noun That which adheres; accretion.
  • noun In physical, molecular attraction exerted between the surfaces of bodies in contact, as between two solids, a solid and a liquid, or a solid and a gas. See extract, and cohesion.
  • noun In botany, the union of parts normally separate. In pathology, especially in the plural, the adventitious bands or fibers by which inflamed parts have adhered, or are held together. In surgery, the reunion of divided parts by a particular kind of inflammation, called the adhesive. In mech., often used as synonymous with friction (which see).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The action of sticking; the state of being attached; intimate union.
  • noun Adherence; steady or firm attachment; fidelity.
  • noun Agreement to adhere; concurrence; assent.
  • noun (Physics) The molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact. See Cohesion.
  • noun (Med.) Union of surface, normally separate, by the formation of new tissue resulting from an inflammatory process.
  • noun (Bot.) The union of parts which are separate in other plants, or in younger states of the same plant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The ability of a substance to stick to an unlike substance.
  • noun Persistent attachment or loyalty.
  • noun An agreement to adhere.
  • noun medicine An abnormal union of surface by the formation of new tissue resulting from an inflammatory process.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a fibrous band of scar tissue that binds together normally separate anatomical structures
  • noun faithful support for a cause or political party or religion
  • noun the property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition
  • noun abnormal union of bodily tissues; most common in the abdomen

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French adhésion, from Latin adhaesiō, adhaesiōn-, from adhaesus, past participle of adhaerēre, to adhere; see adhere.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French adhésion, from Latin stem of adhaesio, from past participle of adhaerare.

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Examples

  • Very interesting and surprising case if you are an employment lawyer or a consumer advocate, since it likely permits major employers are retailers of services and goods to the public, like banks and cable companies, to circumvent the risk of class actions entirely by burying arbitration clauses in adhesion contracts, which is what Bazzle eliminated.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » After Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp.: Deciding When Class Arbitration Is Permissible 2010

  • Under Texas law, a contract of adhesion is a contract that is offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis to a party who has no bargaining power and no ability to change the terms of the contract.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » After Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp.: Deciding When Class Arbitration Is Permissible 2010

  • I really would like to see more legal discussion about the force and obligations possible in a one sided is it called adhesion? contract.

    WoW v. MDY: Copyright, EULAs, and Game Rules 2008

  • They were Gentiles, who had given in adhesion to some of the tenets of Judaism.

    Death, the Law of Life 1865

  • See Williams v. Illinois State Scholarship Comm’n, 139 Ill. 2d 24, 72, 150 Ill.Dec. 578, 563 N. E.2d 465, 487 (1990) “A contract of adhesion is generally found under circumstances in which a party has, in effect, no choice but to accept the contract offered, often where the buyer does not have the opportunity to do comparative shopping or the organization offering the contract has little or no competition.”

    The Volokh Conspiracy » After Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp.: Deciding When Class Arbitration Is Permissible 2010

  • This is the basis of the most fundamental DPM, cell adhesion, which is the sine-qua-non of multicellularity.

    The Origin of Form Was Abrupt Not Gradual 2008

  • Banks are sinking because they are the pooling spots of energy, like an adhesion aka knot in a muscle, it is a traffic jam to flow, the cause of pain and limited range of motion, banks are energetic blockages to the flow of energy, where greed stagnates.

    Evening Buzz: Bank Bailout 2008

  • The price he was prepared to offer these powers for their adhesion was to be a share in the colonial commerce of England, and the acquisition of some of the French and Spanish colonial dependencies for themselves.

    Life of Adam Smith Rae, John, 1845-1915 1895

  • One of the first results of his adhesion was the establishment of two classes under the Science and Art Department at South Kensington, and these grew year after year, attended by numbers of young men and women, till in 1883 we had thirteen classes in full swing, as well as Latin, and London University Matriculation classes; all these were taught by Dr. Aveling and pupils that he had trained.

    An Autobiography Besant, Annie 1893

  • "Bi" is the original particle of swearing, a Harf al-jarr (governing the genitive as Bi'lláhi) and suggesting the idea of adhesion: "Wa" (noting union) is its substitute in oath-formulæ and "Ta" takes the place of Wa as

    Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855

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