21-letter words containing a, c, e, n, d
- dance to another tune — to alter one's actions or opinions as a result of changed conditions
- de-ontological ethics — the branch of ethics dealing with right action and the nature of duty, without regard to the goodness or value of motives or the desirability of the ends of any act.
- dead from the neck up — stupid or unintelligent
- decompression chamber — a chamber in which the pressure of air can be varied slowly for returning people from abnormal pressures to atmospheric pressure without inducing decompression sickness
- deep scattering layer — any of the stratified zones in the ocean which reflect sound during echo sounding, usually composed of marine organisms which migrate vertically from c. 250 to 800 m (c. 820 to 2,625 ft)
- democratic centralism — the Leninist principle that policy should be decided centrally by officials, who are nominally democratically elected
- dendrochronologically — By the use of, or with reference to dendrochronology.
- denominational school — a school associated with a particular religious denomination
- deoxyribonucleic acid — DNA
- department of justice — the department of the U.S. federal government charged with the responsibility for the enforcement of federal laws. Abbreviation: DOJ.
- deprovincialization's — to make provincial in character.
- detoxification centre — a place that specializes in the treatment of alcoholism or drug addiction
- development education — an area of study that aims to give pupils an understanding of their involvement in world affairs
- devil's walking-stick — Hercules'-club (sense 1)
- devil's-walking-stick — Hercules-club (def 2).
- dictionary definition — the meaning of a word as given in a dictionary or dictionaries
- differential calculus — the branch of mathematics that deals with differentials and derivatives.
- direct inward dialing — (communications) (DID) A service offered by telephone companies which allows the last 3 or 4 digits of a phone number to be transmitted to the destination exchange. For example, a company could have 10 incoming lines, all with the number 234 000. If a caller dials 234 697, the call is sent to 234 000 (the company's exchange), and the digits 697 are transmitted. The company's exchange then routes the call to extension 697. This gives the impression of 1000 direct dial lines, whereas in fact there are only 10. Obviously, only 10 at a time can be used. This system is also used by fax servers. Instead of an exchange at the end of the 234 000 line, a computer running fax server software and fax modem cards uses the last three digits to identify the recipient of the fax. This allows 1000 people to have their own individual fax numbers, even though there is only one 'fax machine'.
- discretionary account — an account in which the stockbroker is allowed complete control over the purchase and sale of securities on the customer's behalf.
- displacement activity — a behavior performed out of its usual context and apparently irrelevant to the prevailing situation, as eating when an unknown individual approaches, tending to occur when appropiate behaviors, as attacking or fleeing, are in conflict or obstructed.
- distinctiveness ratio — the ratio of the relative frequency of some event in a given sample to that in the general population or another relevant sample
- draft once reuse many — (jargon) (DORUM) Reusing parts of a document to produce parts of an entirely new document. The term normally refers to text documents but the practise is equally common in programming.
- drop the handkerchief — a children's game in which all the players but one stand in a circle facing inward, while that one player stealthily drops a handkerchief behind a player in the circle who must pursue and attempt to catch the one who dropped the handkerchief before the latter reaches the vacated place.
- duccio di buoninsegna — c1255–1319? Italian painter.
- dwarf japanese quince — a low, shrubby, Japanese flowering quince, Chaenomeles japonica, of the rose family, having salmon-to-orange flowers and yellow fruit.
- dynamic data exchange — (language) (DDE, originally Dynamic Data Linking, DDL) A Microsoft Windows 3 hotlink protocol that allows application programs to communicate using a client-server model. Whenever the server (or "publisher") modifies part of a document which is being shared via DDE, one or more clients ("subscribers") are informed and include the modification in the copy of the data on which they are working.
- dynamic drive overlay — (storage, software) (DDO) Software to allow a system BIOS that does not support Logical Block Addressing to access drives larger than 528 MB. The alternatives are to update the system BIOS or install an EIDE controller card with a suitable on-board BIOS.
- eccles-jordan circuit — flip-flop
- educational sociology — the application of sociological principles and methods to the solution of problems in an educational system.
- electric displacement — the electric flux density when an electric field exists in free space into which a dielectric is introduced
- electromagnetic field — a field of force associated with a moving electric charge equivalent to an electric field and a magnetic field at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation
- endoplasmic reticulum — an extensive intracellular membrane system whose functions include synthesis and transport of lipids and, in regions where ribosomes are attached, of proteins
- enhanced oil recovery — any of several techniques that make it possible to recover more oil than can be obtained by natural pressure, such as the injection of fluid or gases into an oilfield to force more oil to the surface
- enharmonic modulation — a change of key achieved by regarding a note in one key as an equivalent note in another. Thus E flat in the key of A flat could be regarded as D sharp in the key of B major
- epidemic encephalitis — any type of widespread encephalitis caused by various viruses
- every nook and cranny — If you talk about every nook and cranny of a place or situation, you mean every part or every aspect of it.
- extended architecture — (storage) (XA) A CD-ROM drive specification required by Green Book CD-ROM and White Book CD-ROM formats. Drives labelled "XA ready" may require a firmware upgrade.
- faculty board meeting — a meeting of the governing body of a faculty
- financial times index — one of the indexes of share prices produced by the Financial Times, especially the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index
- financial underwriter — A financial underwriter is an insurance employee working in financial underwriting.
- food conversion ratio — a ratio expressing the weight of food required to produce a unit gain in the live weight of an animal
- food standards agency — the full form of FDA
- forward exchange rate — the exchange rate of a currency to be delivered at a later date
- fraudulent conversion — conversion committed with the intent to defraud
- french and indian war — the war in America in which France and its Indian allies opposed England 1754–60: ended by Treaty of Paris in 1763.
- french fried potatoes — a more formal name for chips
- full faith and credit — the obligation under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution for each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.
- functional dependency — (database) Given a relation R (in a relational database), attribute Y of R is functionally dependent on attribute X of R and X of R functionally determines Y of R (in symbols R.X -> R.Y) if and only if each X in R has associated with it precisely one Y in R (at any one time). Attributes X and Y may be composite. This is very close to a function in the mathematical sense.
- fundamental frequency — the lowest frequency at which a medium will freely oscillate.
- game of cat and mouse — In a fight or contest, if one person plays cat and mouse, or a game of cat and mouse, with the other, the first person tries to confuse or deceive the second in order to defeat them.