22-letter words containing a, c, o, u
- complete quadrilateral — a polygon consisting of four lines and their six points of intersection
- component architecture — (programming) A notion in object-oriented programming where "components" of a program are completely generic. Instead of having a specialised set of methods and fields they have generic methods through which the component can advertise the functionality it supports to the system into which it is loaded. This enables completely dynamic loading of objects. JavaBeans is an example of a component architecture. See also design pattern.
- compound annual return — the total return available from an investment, deposit, etc, when the interest earned is used to augment the capital
- compulsory liquidation — the liquidation of a business in order to settle its debts
- compuserve corporation — (company) The parent organisation of CompuServe Information Service, CompuServe Network Services and CompuServe Remote Computing Services. CompuServe was owned by H.R. Block but is now (1999) owned by America On-Line.
- computational geometry — (mathematics) The study of algorithms for combinatorial, topological, and metric problems concerning sets of points, typically in Euclidean space. Representative areas of research include geometric search, convexity, proximity, intersection, and linear programming.
- computational learning — grammatical inference
- concurrent massey hope — (language, functional programming) An extension of Massey Hope, by Peter Burgess, Robert Pointon, and Nigel Perry <[email protected]> of Massey University, NZ, that provides multithreading and typed inter-thread communication. It uses C for intermediate code rather than assembly language.
- constitutional monarch — the sovereign in a constitutional monarchy
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- consummatory behaviour — any behaviour that leads directly to the satisfaction of an innate drive, e.g. eating or drinking
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continuous welded rail — a long, continuous rail formed by welding many short rails.
- conversational quality — (in public speaking) a manner of utterance that resembles the spontaneity and informality of relaxed personal conversation.
- coronary insufficiency — inadequate circulation of blood through the coronary arteries, characterized by attacks of angina pectoris
- corporate headquarters — the main offices of a corporation, from where it runs its business
- corporate manslaughter — the death of someone caused by an act of corporate negligence
- corrupt practices acts — laws limiting contributions to and expenditures in election campaigns, making illegal certain methods of influencing voters, etc.
- counterinterpretations — Plural form of counterinterpretation.
- counterrevolutionaries — Plural form of counterrevolutionary.
- course author language — (language) (CAL) The CAI language for the IBM 360.
- curly-coated retriever — a strongly built variety of retriever with a tightly curled black or liver-coloured coat
- curriculum coordinator — a member of a teaching staff with a largely administrative function whose job is to ensure that a curriculum is effectively taught
- curvature of the spine — a condition in which the spine is abnormally curved
- cut a long story short — to leave out details in a narration
- cut someone some slack — to be less demanding of someone; ease up on someone
- cyclic redundancy code — cyclic redundancy check
- delayed-action shutter — a camera shutter that opens after an interval set by the photographer
- diachronic linguistics — historical linguistics.
- dilation and curettage — a surgical method for the removal of diseased tissue or an early embryo from the lining of the uterus by means of scraping.
- distributive education — a special program of vocational education at the high-school level in which a student is employed part-time, receiving on-the-job training, and also attends classes, most of which pertain directly to the student's vocational field.
- double blackwall hitch — a kind of knot
- drumhead court-martial — a court-martial held, usually on a battlefield, for the summary trial of charges of offenses committed during military operations.
- earth inductor compass — a compass actuated by induction from the earth's magnetic field.
- east african community — an association established in 1967 by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to promote closer economic and social ties between member states: dissolved in 1977, but reformed in 1999, and joined in 2007 by Burundi and Rwanda
- educational psychology — a branch of psychology concerned with developing effective educational techniques and dealing with psychological problems in schools.
- educational technology — the use of technology, such as computers, within education, to aid the learning process
- educational television — television of informational or instructional content.
- engineering consultant — a consultant specializing in engineering
- european economic area — a free-trade area created in 1994 by an agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), excluding Switzerland, and the European Union (EU)
- federal crop insurance — insurance against the failure of certain crops provided to farmers and producers by the Federal Government
- federal district court — district court (def 2).
- flocculent precipitate — a woolly-looking precipitate, as aluminum hydroxide formed by the addition of ammonia to an aluminum-salt solution.
- forced place insurance — Forced place insurance is insurance taken out by a bank or creditor on an uninsured debtor's behalf on a property that is being used as collateral.
- four-hundred-day clock — a clock that needs to be wound once a year, having the works exposed under a glass dome and utilizing a torsion pendulum.
- friar minor conventual — a friar belonging to a branch of the Franciscan order that separated from the Observants in the 15th century, and that observes a modification of the rule of St. Francis. Also called Conventual. Compare Friar Minor, capuchin (def 4).
- functional programming — (programming) (FP) A program in a functional language consists of a set of (possibly recursive) function definitions and an expression whose value is output as the program's result. Functional languages are one kind of declarative language. They are mostly based on the typed lambda-calculus with constants. There are no side-effects to expression evaluation so an expression, e.g. a function applied to certain arguments, will always evaluate to the same value (if its evaluation terminates). Furthermore, an expression can always be replaced by its value without changing the overall result (referential transparency). The order of evaluation of subexpressions is determined by the language's evaluation strategy. In a strict (call-by-value) language this will specify that arguments are evaluated before applying a function whereas in a non-strict (call-by-name) language arguments are passed unevaluated. Programs written in a functional language are generally compact and elegant, but have tended, until recently, to run slowly and require a lot of memory. Examples of purely functional languages are Clean, FP, Haskell, Hope, Joy, LML, Miranda, and SML. Many other languages such as Lisp have a subset which is purely functional but also contain non-functional constructs. See also lazy evaluation, reduction.
- genitourinary medicine — the branch of medical science concerned with the study and treatment of diseases of the genital and urinary organs, esp sexually transmitted diseases
- glucose tolerance test — a diagnostic procedure in which a measured amount of glucose is ingested and blood samples are taken periodically as a means of detecting diabetes mellitus.
- go through one's paces — to show one's abilities, skills, etc.