[W/K] :: unification

  Unification \U`ni*fi*ca"tion\, n. [See Unify.]
     The act of unifying, or the state of being unified.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Unification with God was the final aim of the
           Neoplatonicians.                         --Fleming.
     [1913 Webster]

  unification
       n 1: an occurrence that involves the production of a union [syn:
            fusion, merger]
       2: the state of being joined or united or linked; "there is
          strength in union" [syn: union] [ant: separation]
       3: the act of making or becoming a single unit; "the union of
          opposing factions"; "he looked forward to the unification
          of his family for the holidays" [syn: union, uniting,
          conjugation, jointure] [ant: disunion]

  135 Moby Thesaurus words for "unification":
     Anschluss, addition, affiliation, agglomeration, agglutination,
     aggregation, agreement, alignment, alliance, amalgamation,
     articulation, assimilation, association, blend, blending, bond,
     bracketing, cabal, cahoots, cartel, centralization, clustering,
     coadunation, coalescence, coalition, colleagueship, collegialism,
     collegiality, combination, combine, combo, communication,
     composition, comradeship, concatenation, concourse, concurrence,
     confederacy, confederation, confluence, confraternity, congeries,
     conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, connection,
     consolidation, conspiracy, convergence, copartnership, copartnery,
     copulation, coupling, ecumenism, embodiment, encompassment, enosis,
     federalization, federation, fellowship, fraternalism, fraternity,
     fraternization, freemasonry, fusion, gathering, hookup,
     identification, identity, inclusion, incorporation, individuality,
     indivisibility, intactness, integrality, integration, integrity,
     intercommunication, intercourse, interlinking, interlocking,
     inviolability, irreducibility, joinder, joining, jointure,
     junction, junta, knotting, league, liaison, linkage, linking,
     marriage, meeting, meld, melding, mergence, merger, merging,
     oneness, organic unity, package, package deal, pairing,
     particularity, partnership, purity, selfsameness, simplicity,
     singleness, singularity, sodality, solidarity, solidification,
     solidity, sorority, splice, symbiosis, syncretism, syndication,
     syneresis, synthesis, tie, tie-in, tie-up, undividedness,
     uniformity, union, uniqueness, unity, univocity, wedding,
     wholeness, yoking
  
  

  unification
       
           The generalisation of pattern matching that is
          the logic programming equivalent of instantiation in
          logic.  When two terms are to be unified, they are
          compared.  If they are both constants then the result of
          unification is success if they are equal else failure.  If one
          is a variable then it is bound to the other, which may be any
          term (which satisfies an "{occurs check"), and the
          unification succeeds.  If both terms are structures then each
          pair of sub-terms is unified recursively and the unification
          succeeds if all the sub-terms unify.
       
          The result of unification is either failure or success with a
          set of variable bindings, known as a "{unifier".  There may
          be many such unifiers for any pair of terms but there will be
          at most one "{most general unifier", other unifiers simply
          add extra bindings for sub-terms which are variables in the
          original terms.
       
          (1995-12-14)