alpha (n.)

  1. the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet

  2. the beginning of a series or sequence; the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end--Revelations

    alpha (adj.)

  1. first in order of importance; the alpha male in the group of chimpanzees; the alpha star in a constellation is the brightest or main star'

  2. early testing stage of a software or hardware product; alpha version'

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
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