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23-letter words containing a, c, e, l

  • central processing unit — the part of a computer that performs logical and arithmetical operations on the data as specified in the instructions
  • characteristic velocity — a measure of the effectiveness with which the combustion in a rocket engine produces high temperature and pressure, equal to the exhaust velocity divided by the thrust coefficient.
  • circumstantial evidence — indirect evidence that tends to establish a conclusion by inference
  • civil aeronautics board — the former federal agency (1938–85) that regulated airline fares and assigned routes. Abbreviation: CAB, C.A.B.
  • classification schedule — the printed scheme of a system of classification
  • client-centered therapy — a nondirective method of psychotherapy in which treatment consists of helping patients to use effectively their own latent resources in solving problems.
  • collision damage waiver — a form of optional collision insurance cover for a vehicle that is being rented
  • columbus air force base — U.S. Air Force installation in NE Mississippi, NW of Columbus.
  • combinatorial chemistry — the use of chemical methods to generate all possible combinations of chemicals
  • come hell or high water — If you say that you will do something come hell or high water, you are emphasizing that you are determined to do it, in spite of the difficulties involved.
  • commercial exploitation — unethical business practices
  • common lisp in parallel — (language, parallel)   (CLIP) A version of Common LISP from Allegro for the Sequent Symmetry.
  • commonwealth of england — commonwealth (def 5).
  • commonwealth of nations — a voluntary association of independent nations and dependent territories linked by historical ties (as parts of the former British Empire) and cooperating on matters of mutual concern, especially regarding economics and trade.
  • communist international — Third International.
  • communist-international — an international organization (1919–43), founded in Moscow, uniting Communist groups of various countries and advocating the attainment of their ends by violent revolution. Also called Comintern, Communist International. Compare international (def 6).
  • community health centre — a medical centre that serves a particular area
  • compact disc recordable — (storage)   (CD-R) A write-once version of CD-ROM. CD-Rs can hold about 650 megabytes of data. They are very durable and can be read by normal CD-ROM drives, but once data has been written it cannot be altered. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-R discs have a dye-based recording layer and an additional golden reflecting layer. Digital information is written to the disc by burning (forming) pits in the recording layer in a pattern corresponding to that of a conventional CD. The laser beam heats the substrate and recording layer to approximately 250 C. The recording layer melts and the substrate expands into the space that becomes available. See also CD-RW and DVD-RAM.
  • compact disc rewritable — (storage)   (CD-RW) A rewritable version of CD-ROM. A CD-RW drive can write about 650 megabytes of data to CD-RW media an unlimited number of times. Most CD-RW drives can also write once to CD-R media. CD-RW media cannot be read by CD-ROM drives built prior to 1997 due to the reduced reflectivity (15% compared to 70%) of CD-RW media. CD-RW drives and media are currently (1999) more expensive than CD-R drives and media. CD-R is sometimes considered a better technology for archival purposes as the data cannot be accidentally modified or tampered with, and encourages better archival practices. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-WR discs have a phase-change recording layer and an additional silver (aluminium) reflecting layer. A laser beam can melt crystals in the recording layer into a non-crystalline amorphous phase or anneal them slowly at a lower temperature back to the crystalline state. The different reflectance of the areas make them appear as the 'pits' and 'lands' of a standard CD. See also CD-R and DVD-RAM.
  • comparative linguistics — the study of the correspondences between languages that have a common origin.
  • complain about the food — If you complain about the food, you say that you are not satisfied with it.
  • completely normal space — a normal topological space in which every subspace is normal.
  • composite colour signal — a colour television signal in which luminance and two chrominance components are encoded into a single signal
  • computer-aided learning — Computer-Aided Instruction
  • conditional convergence — the property of an infinite series that converges while the series formed by replacing each term in the given series with its absolute value diverges; the property of an infinite series that converges when the order of the terms is altered. Compare absolute convergence (def 1).
  • confessional television — television programmes, esp talk shows, in which members of the public reveal their private lives, personal problems, etc
  • conjunctive normal form — (logic)   (CNF) A logical formula consisting of a conjunction of disjunctions of terms where no disjunction contains a conjunction. Such a formula might also be described as a product of sums. E.g. the CNF of (A and B) or C is (A or C) and (B or C). Contrast Disjunctive Normal Form.
  • connection machine lisp — (language)   Lisp with a parallel data structure, the 'xapping', an array of values assigned to an array of sites.
  • conservative evaluation — (programming)   Under this parallel evaluation strategy, no evaluation is started unless it is known to be needed. The opposite of conservative evaluation is speculative evaluation.
  • consolidated deliveries — deliveries of goods to different shops in a common location by a single carrier and in a single vehicle
  • constant velocity joint — A constant velocity joint is a universal joint in which the output shaft rotates at constant speed if the input shaft speed is constant.
  • constant-velocity joint — a universal joint that is used in the drive train of front-wheel-drive cars and operates effectively even when the shafts being connected meet at a sharp angle.
  • cordillera de talamanca — a mountain range running SE from central Costa Rica to W Panama.
  • correlation coefficient — a statistic measuring the degree of correlation between two variables as by dividing their covariance by the square root of the product of their variances. The closer the correlation coefficient is to 1 or –1 the greater the correlation; if it is random, the coefficient is zero
  • correlative conjunction — either member of a matched pair of words, of which the second is a coordinating conjunction, as either … or, neither … nor, both … and, or not only … but.
  • cost-of-living increase — a pay rise that is given because the cost of living has gone up
  • criminal justice system — the combination of courts and legal processes that deal with crime
  • criminal records bureau — (in England and Wales) a service offering employers and voluntary organizations access to police, health, and education records
  • cryptococcal meningitis — a form of meningitis resulting from opportunistic infection by a cryptococcus fungus, occurring in persons who are immunodeficient.
  • cyclic redundancy check — (algorithm)   (CRC or "cyclic redundancy code") A number derived from, and stored or transmitted with, a block of data in order to detect corruption. By recalculating the CRC and comparing it to the value originally transmitted, the receiver can detect some types of transmission errors. A CRC is more complicated than a checksum. It is calculated using division either using shifts and exclusive ORs or table lookup (modulo 256 or 65536). The CRC is "redundant" in that it adds no information. A single corrupted bit in the data will result in a one bit change in the calculated CRC but multiple corrupted bits may cancel each other out. CRCs treat blocks of input bits as coefficient-sets for polynomials. E.g., binary 10100000 implies the polynomial: 1*x^7 + 0*x^6 + 1*x^5 + 0*x^4 + 0*x^3 + 0*x^2 + 0*x^1 + 0*x^0. This is the "message polynomial". A second polynomial, with constant coefficients, is called the "generator polynomial". This is divided into the message polynomial, giving a quotient and remainder. The coefficients of the remainder form the bits of the final CRC. So, an order-33 generator polynomial is necessary to generate a 32-bit CRC. The exact bit-set used for the generator polynomial will naturally affect the CRC that is computed. Most CRC implementations seem to operate 8 bits at a time by building a table of 256 entries, representing all 256 possible 8-bit byte combinations, and determining the effect that each byte will have. CRCs are then computed using an input byte to select a 16- or 32-bit value from the table. This value is then used to update the CRC.
  • cyclohexylsulfamic acid — cyclamic acid.
  • cylinder vacuum cleaner — a type of vacuum cleaner in which dirt, dust, etc, is sucked into a hard cylinder rather than a bag
  • cylindrical coordinates — three coordinates defining the location of a point in three-dimensional space in terms of its polar coordinates (r, θ) in one plane, usually the (x, y) plane, and its perpendicular distance, z, measured from this plane
  • d'entrecasteaux islands — a group of volcanic islands in the Pacific, off the SE coast of New Guinea: part of Papua New Guinea. Pop: 49 167 (1990 est). Area: 3141 sq km (1213 sq miles)
  • de-compartmentalization — to divide into categories or compartments.
  • delayed stress reaction — a post-traumatic stress disorder occurring more than six months after the experience of a traumatic event.
  • dialectical materialism — the economic, political, and philosophical system of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that combines traditional materialism and Hegelian dialectic
  • diamondback rattlesnake — either of two large, highly venomous rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus, having diamond-shaped markings on the back.
  • dichlorodifluoromethane — a colourless nonflammable gas easily liquefied by pressure: used as a propellant in aerosols and fire extinguishers and as a refrigerant. Formula: CCl2F2
  • differential compaction — differences in the extent to which sediment is compacted owing to topographic irregularities of the surface on which it is deposited.
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