  Phase-coexistence in the manganese-oxide compounds or manganites with
colossal magneto-resistance (CMR) has been generally considered to be an
inhomogeneous ground state. An alternative explanation of phase-coexistence as
the manifestation of a disorder-broadened first order magnetic phase transition
being interrupted by the glasslike arrest of kinetics is now gradually gaining
ground. This kinetic arrest of a first order phase transitions, between two
states with long-range magnetic order, has actually been observed in various
other classes of magnetic materials in addition to the CMR manganites. The
underlying common features of this kinetic arrest of a first order phase
transition are discussed in terms of the phenomenology of glasses. The possible
manifestations of such glass-like arrested states across disorder-influenced
first order phase transitions in dielectric solids and in multiferroic
materials, are also discussed.
