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19-letter words containing a, c, e, r, v

  • internal conversion — the emission of an electron by an atom with an excited nucleus, occurring as a result of the transfer of energy from the nucleus to the electron.
  • intervertebral disc — any of the cartilaginous discs between individual vertebrae, acting as shock absorbers
  • intrauterine device — any small, mechanical device for semipermanent insertion into the uterus as a contraceptive. Abbreviation: IUD.
  • lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
  • magnetic tape drive — (storage)   (Or "tape drive") A peripheral device that reads and writes magnetic tape.
  • magnetomotive force — a scalar quantity that is a measure of the sources of magnetic flux in a magnetic circuit. Abbreviation: mmf.
  • major seventh chord — a chord much used in modern music, esp jazz and pop, consisting of a major triad with an added major seventh above the root
  • mercury-vapour lamp — a lamp in which an electric discharge through a low pressure of mercury vapour is used to produce a greenish-blue light. It is used for street lighting and is also a source of ultraviolet radiation
  • mordvinian republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga basin. Capital: Saransk. Pop: 888 700 (2002). Area: 26 200 sq km (10 110 sq miles)
  • motivation research — the application of the knowledge and techniques of the social sciences, especially psychology and sociology, to understanding consumer attitudes and behavior: used as a guide in advertising and marketing.
  • national serviceman — a soldier undertaking compulsory military service
  • neats vs. scruffies — (artificial intelligence, jargon)   The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in artificial intelligence research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the relationship between human reasoning and AI; "neats" tend to try to build systems that "reason" in some way identifiably similar to the way humans report themselves as doing, while "scruffies" profess not to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favour looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident and not productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture "common sense" of living intelligences.
  • negative resistance — a characteristic of certain electronic components in which an increase in the applied voltage increases the resistance, producing a proportional decrease in current
  • nerve growth factor — a protein that promotes the growth, organization, and maintenance of sympathetic and some sensory nerve cells. Abbreviation: NGF.
  • neville chamberlain — (Arthur) Neville, 1869–1940, British statesman: prime minister 1937–40.
  • not care/give a fig — If you say that someone doesn't care a fig or doesn't give a fig about something, you are emphasizing that they think it is unimportant or that they are not interested in it.
  • olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
  • ordnance survey map — An Ordnance Survey map is a detailed map produced by the British or Irish government map-making organization.
  • over-centralization — the act or fact of centralizing; fact of being centralized.
  • over-commercialized — to make commercial in character, methods, or spirit.
  • overhead projection — the projection (using an overhead projector) of an enlarged image of a transparency onto a surface above and behind the person using it
  • particular negative — a proposition of the form “Some S is not P.” Symbol: O.
  • pecuniary advantage — financial advantage that is dishonestly obtained by deception and that constitutes a criminal offence
  • pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
  • predicate adjective — an adjective used in the predicate, especially with a copulative verb and attributive to the subject, as in He is dead, or attributive to the direct object, as in It made him sick.
  • predicate objective — objective complement.
  • pretty good privacy — (tool, cryptography)   (PGP) A high security RSA public-key encryption application for MS-DOS, Unix, VAX/VMS, and other computers. It was written by Philip R. Zimmermann <[email protected]> of Phil's Pretty Good(tm) Software and later augmented by a cast of thousands, especially including Hal Finney, Branko Lankester, and Peter Gutmann. PGP was distributed as "guerrilla freeware". The authors don't mind if it is distributed widely, just don't ask Philip Zimmermann to send you a copy. PGP uses a public-key encryption algorithm claimed by US patent #4,405,829. The exclusive rights to this patent are held by a California company called Public Key Partners, and you may be infringing this patent if you use PGP in the USA. This is explained in the PGP User's Guide, Volume II. PGP allows people to exchange files or messages with privacy and authentication. Privacy and authentication are provided without managing the keys associated with conventional cryptographic software. No secure channels are needed to exchange keys between users, which makes PGP much easier to use. This is because PGP is based on public-key cryptography. PGP encrypts data using the International Data Encryption Algorithm with a random session key, and uses the RSA algorithm to encrypt the session key. In December 1994 Philip Zimmermann faced prosecution for "exporting" PGP out of the United States but in January 1996 the US Goverment dropped the case. A US law prohibits the export of encryption software out of the country. Zimmermann did not do this, but the US government hoped to establish the proposition that posting an encryption program on a BBS or on the Internet constitutes exporting it - in effect, stretching export control into domestic censorship. If the government had won it would have had a chilling effect on the free flow of information on the global network, as well as on everyone's privacy from government snooping.
  • private first class — a soldier ranking above a private and below a corporal or specialist fourth class in the U.S. Army, and above a private and below a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.
  • private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
  • professional advice — advice given by someone trained in a particular and relevant profession or job
  • pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
  • radioactive fallout — the settling to the ground of airborne particles ejected into the atmosphere from the earth by explosions, eruptions, forest fires, etc., especially such settling from nuclear explosions (radioactive fallout) Compare rainout.
  • radius of curvature — the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature at a point on a curve.
  • rake over the coals — a black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter, used as a fuel. Compare anthracite, bituminous coal, lignite.
  • rancho palos verdes — a town in SW California.
  • reactive depression — depression occurring in response to some situational stress, as loss of one's job.
  • reciprocal leveling — leveling between two widely separated points in which observations are made in both directions to eliminate the effects of atmospheric refraction and the curvature of the earth.
  • relative complement — the set of elements contained in a given set that are not elements of another specified set.
  • removable cartridge — a hard disk enclosed in a case that can be removed from the disk drive, having more storage than floppy disks.
  • renaissance revival — a mid-Victorian architectural style adapting the classical forms of 15th- and 16th-century Italian architecture, especially palace architecture, usually characterized by blocklike massing, with refined classicized decorative detail around regularly organized windows.
  • republic of vietnam — the name (from 1955–75) for South Vietnam, as an independent republic, following the division of the country in 1954 into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
  • reserved occupation — in time of war, an occupation from which one will not be called up for military service
  • resistance movement — a movement fighting (for freedom, etc), often secretly or illegally, against an invader in an occupied country or against the country's government, etc
  • restorative justice — a theory and method in criminal justice in which it is arranged that the victim and the community receive restitution from the offender.
  • revenue enhancement — a new tax or a tax increase.
  • reverse charge call — callee pays fees
  • reverse the charges — If you reverse the charges when you make a telephone call, the person who you are phoning pays the cost of the call and not you.
  • reversible reaction — a reaction that, depending on ambient conditions, can proceed in either of two directions: the production of the reaction products from the reactants, or the production of the original reactants from the formed reaction products. Compare equilibrium (def 4).
  • roosevelt corollary — a corollary (1904) to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that the U.S. might intervene in the affairs of an American republic threatened with seizure or intervention by a European country.
  • sacrifice operative — a euphemistic term for a suicide bomber
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