Communication.

Although the word "communication" may be used to identify activities that do not involve people—animals or even machines can be said to communicate—it is usually defined as the means through which people exchange feelings and ideas with one another. Communication is a process rather than a thing; it begins when a person feels a need to express an idea, a message, or a feeling. In other words, it begins with a purpose: to convey information, to express feelings, to imagine, to influence, or to meet social or cultural expectations. Unlike objects, feelings and ideas are difficult to exchange because they have no physical substance. Since they have no concrete existence, they cannot be handed directly to another person. Instead they must be exchanged, or communicated, through the use of symbols—things that represent or stand for other things. In order for meaningful communication to take...