Word: sine
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...obvious even that early that the coup was ill planned and curiously halfhearted. The plotters neglected to carry out that sine qua non of successful coups: the immediate arrest of popular potential enemies before they could begin organizing a resistance. In particular, the failure to make sure that Yeltsin was taken into custody (there were some reports that an attempt at an arrest was made, but botched) was fatal. Inexplicably, the putschists did not even pull the plug on the communications of anyone except Gorbachev. Bush and other foreign leaders were amazed at how easily they could get through...
Part of it is a question of style. Contemporary peace activists might be naive and intellectually slovenly, but they are dissenters, and dissent is both sine qua non and proof positive of a functioning democracy...
...many words, the U.S.S.R., China (whose Foreign Minister, Qian Qichen, Baker met in Cairo) and France indicated that they would at least not veto a Security Council resolution approving the use of force. But the allies generally made it clear that such a resolution is a sine qua non if they are to go into battle alongside...
Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine...
Toxic waste and radioactive contamination could lead to shortages of safe drinking water, the sine qua non of human existence. And in a world that could house between 8 billion and 14 billion people by the mid-21st century, there is a strong likelihood of mass starvation. It is even possible to envision the world so wryly and chillingly prophesied by the typewriting cockroach in Donald Marquis' archy and mehitabel: "man is making deserts of the earth/ it wont be long now/ before man will have it used up/ so that nothing but ants/ and centipedes and scorpions/ can find...