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20-letter words containing a, c, r, o

  • complex carbohydrate — a carbohydrate, as sucrose or starch, that consists of two or more monosaccharide units.
  • composite photograph — a photograph formed by superimposing two or more separate photographs
  • computability theory — (mathematics)   The area of theoretical computer science concerning what problems can be solved by any computer. A function is computable if an algorithm can be implemented which will give the correct output for any valid input. Since computer programs are countable but real numbers are not, it follows that there must exist real numbers that cannot be calculated by any program. Unfortunately, by definition, there isn't an easy way of describing any of them! In fact, there are many tasks (not just calculating real numbers) that computers cannot perform. The most well-known is the halting problem, the busy beaver problem is less famous but just as fascinating.
  • computer programming — the activity or profession of writing computer programs
  • computing dictionary — Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
  • confectioners' sugar — Confectioners' sugar is very fine white sugar that is used for making icing and candy.
  • conformal projection — a map projection in which angles formed by lines are preserved: a map made using this projection preserves the shape of any small area.
  • congressional record — (in the US) the government journal that publishes all proceedings of Congress
  • congressman-at-large — (in the US) a member of the House of Representatives who was elected by the voters of an entire state as opposed to the voters of a single Congressional district
  • connector conspiracy — (business, standard)   The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, other designers) to come up with products that don't fit with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. The term probably came into prominence with the appearance of the DEC KL-10, none of whose connectors matched anything else. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actually *patented* by DEC, who reputedly refused to licence the design, thus effectively locking out competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market. This policy was a source of frustration for the owners of dying, obsolescent disk and tape drives. A related phenomenon is the invention of new screw heads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or install options. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one step further, requiring not only a hex wrench but a specialised case-cracking tool to open the box. With the advent of more open-systems computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse. Compare backward combatability.
  • conservation of mass — the principle that the total mass of any isolated system is constant and is independent of any chemical and physical changes taking place within the system
  • conservative baptist — a member of a Protestant denomination (Conservative Baptist Association of America) organized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1948.
  • conservative judaism — a movement reacting against the radicalism of Reform Judaism, rejecting extreme change and advocating moderate relaxations of traditional Jewish law, by an extension of the process by which its adherents claim traditional Orthodox Judaism evolved
  • constant de rebecque — Henri Benjamin [ahn-ree ban-zha-man] /ɑ̃ˈri bɛ̃ ʒaˈmɛ̃/ (Show IPA), (Benjamin Constant) 1767–1830, French statesman and author, born in Switzerland.
  • construction company — a business enterprise concerned with the construction of buildings, bridges, etc
  • contact metamorphism — localized metamorphism resulting from the heat of an igneous intrusion.
  • context-free grammar — (grammar)   (CFG) A grammar where the syntax of each constituent (syntactic category or terminal symbol) is independent of the symbols occuring before and after it in a sentence. A context-free grammar describes a context-free language. Context-free grammars can be expressed by a set of "production rules" or syntactic rules. For example, a language with symbols "a" and "b" that must occur in unequal numbers can be represented by the CFG: S → U | V U → TaU | TaT | UaT V → TbV | TbT | VbT T → aTbT | bTaT | ε meaning the top-level category "S" consists of either a "U" or a "V" and so on. The special category "ε" represents the empty string. This grammar is context-free because each rule has a single symbol on its left-hand side.
  • continental congress — the assembly of delegates from the North American rebel colonies held during and after the War of American Independence. It issued the Declaration of Independence (1776) and framed the Articles of Confederation (1777)
  • continuity announcer — A continuity announcer is someone who introduces the next programme on a radio or television station.
  • continuous variation — variation in phenotypic traits such as body weight or height in which a series of types are distributed on a continuum rather than grouped into discrete categories. Compare discontinuous variation.
  • contradistinguishing — Present participle of contradistinguish.
  • controlled substance — a drug regulated by the Federal Controlled Substances Acts, including opiates, depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens
  • convective discharge — the repulsion of ions of a gas by a highly charged body, creating a discernible wind.
  • conversation stopper — a comment that is so shocking or boring that people stop talking
  • coordination complex — one of a number of complex compounds in which an atom or group of atoms is bound to the central atom by a shared pair of electrons supplied by the coordinated group and not by the central atom
  • corporate governance — the balance of control between the stakeholders, managers, and directors of an organization
  • correctional officer — a prison guard
  • corresponding angles — a pair of nonadjacent angles, one interior and one exterior, on the same side of a transversal: these paired angles are equal if the lines cut by the transversal are parallel
  • corrugated cardboard — cardboard usually made of three different layers, the two outer layers having a smooth surface while the central inner layer is corrugated
  • council-manager plan — (in the US) a system of local government with an elected legislative council and an appointed administrative manager
  • counter-inflationary — designed to reduce inflation
  • counterdemonstration — a demonstration that is held in reaction to another demonstration
  • counterproliferation — Action intended to prevent an increase or spread in the possession of nuclear weapons.
  • counterrevolutionary — Counterrevolutionary activities are activities intended to reverse the effects of a previous revolution.
  • court of last resort — (in the US) a supreme court
  • court of st. james's — the British royal court: so called from St. James's Palace, London, the former scene of royal receptions.
  • covenant of warranty — warranty (def 2b).
  • covenant-of-warranty — warranty (def 2b).
  • craniosacral therapy — a form of therapy for various disorders in which the therapist manipulates the bones of the skull
  • cream of tomato soup — a creamy soup made from tomatoes
  • creative imagination — the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
  • criminal proceedings — action taken in a court to bring a criminal prosecution against someone
  • cross someone's palm — to give someone money
  • cross someone's path — to meet or thwart someone
  • crossword dictionary — a dictionary that lists common clues found in crossword puzzles with potential answer words. In books, the lists are usually sorted by the number of letters in the answer, while an online crossword dictionary, such as the Dictionary.com Crossword Solver, is able to analyze queries electronically, examining either the clue or the number and pattern of letters already filled in to arrive at suggested answers.
  • crude oil evaluation — Crude oil evaluation is the process of assessing the chemical and physical properties of crude oil, against particular standards.
  • curry favour with sb — If one person tries to curry favour with another, they do things in order to try to gain their support or co-operation.
  • cut one's own throat — to be the means of one's own ruin
  • cut the gordian knot — to find a quick, bold solution for a perplexing problem
  • cycloidal propulsion — propulsion of a vessel by propellers of controllable pitch that steer as well as propel.
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