17-letter words containing a, c, t, i, o
- astral projection — the departure of the astral body from the physical body, in order to travel to the astral plane
- astronomical unit — a unit of distance used in astronomy equal to the mean distance between the earth and the sun. 1 astronomical unit is equivalent to 1.495 × 1011 metres or about 9.3 × 107 miles
- astronomical year — year (def 4b).
- at the service of — To be at the service of a person or organization means to be available to help or be used by that person or organization.
- attorneys-in-fact — a person authorized by power of attorney to act on the authorizer's behalf outside a court of law.
- attraction sphere — centrosphere (sense 1)
- audio description — a facility provided for visually impaired people in which a film, television programme, or play is described through audio technology
- aurea mediocritas — the golden mean.
- australopithecine — any of various extinct apelike primates of the genus Australopithecus and related genera, remains of which have been discovered in southern and E Africa. Some species are estimated to be over 4.5 million years old
- authority control — the establishment and maintainance of consistent forms of terms, as of names, subjects, and titles, to be used as headings in bibliographic records.
- autocatalytically — In an autocatalytic manner.
- autocorrelational — Of or pertaining to autocorrelation.
- automatic vending — selling goods by vending machines
- automatic writing — writing performed without apparent intent or conscious control, especially to achieve spontaneity or uncensored expression.
- aviation medicine — the branch of medicine concerned with the effects on man of flight in the earth's atmosphere
- back on the rails — If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed.
- bacteriologically — In a bacteriological manner; with respect to bacteriology.
- bacteriorhodopsin — a purple protein containing retinal and found in the plasma membrane of certain bacteria (genus Halobacterium): it directly supplies electrochemical energy from sunlight
- baltimore clipper — a small, fast American sailing vessel of the early 19th century, having a sharp hull form and two masts with a pronounced rake and carrying a brig or schooner rig.
- basic proposition — protocol (def 6).
- benjamin-constant — Henri Benjamin [ahn-ree ban-zha-man] /ɑ̃ˈri bɛ̃ ʒaˈmɛ̃/ (Show IPA), (Benjamin Constant) 1767–1830, French statesman and author, born in Switzerland.
- betagalactosidase — any of a family of enzymes capable of liberating galactose from carbohydrates.
- binet-simon scale — a test comprising questions and tasks, used to determine the mental age of subjects, usually children
- biological father — the man whose semen fertilized the ovum from which a child was born
- biological mother — the mother who gave birth to a child
- biological parent — a parent who has conceived (biological mother) or sired (biological father) rather than adopted a child and whose genes are therefore transmitted to the child.
- biological rhythm — biorhythm.
- biopharmaceutical — of or relating to drugs produced using biotechnology
- black nationalism — a movement advocating the establishment of a separate black nation within the U.S.
- black swallowtail — the tail of a swallow or a deeply forked tail like that of a swallow.
- black-box testing — functional testing
- blackout curtains — thick, lined curtains designed to shut out all daylight and keep a room in complete darkness
- bland-allison act — an act of Congress (1878) requiring the federal government to purchase at the market price from two to four million dollars' worth of silver monthly for conversion into silver dollars containing 16 times more silver per coin than gold in dollar coins of gold.
- block association — an association for the residents of a particular block in a neighbourhood to discuss and act on matters of common concern
- blocking antibody — Immunology. an antibody that partly combines with an antigen and interferes with cell-mediated immunity, thereby preventing an allergic reaction.
- boatswain's chair — a seat consisting of a short flat board slung from ropes, used to support a person working on the side of a vessel or in its rigging
- body modification — any method of permanently adorning the body, including tattooing and piercing
- book depreciation — Book depreciation is depreciation in a company's internal financial records that is different from the amount that is used for taxes.
- bouncebackability — the ability to recover after a setback, esp in sport
- branch prediction — (processor, algorithm) A technique used in some processors with instruction prefetch to guess whether a conditional branch will be taken or not and prefetch code from the appropriate location. When a branch instruction is executed, its address and that of the next instruction executed (the chosen destination of the branch) are stored in the Branch Target Buffer. This information is used to predict which way the instruction will branch the next time it is executed so that instruction prefetch can continue. When the prediction is correct (and it is over 90% of the time), executing a branch does not cause a pipeline break. Some later CPUs simply prefetch both paths instead of trying to predict which way the branch will go. An extension of the idea of branch prediction is speculative execution.
- bricks and mortar — You can use bricks and mortar to refer to houses and other buildings, especially when they are considered as an investment.
- british cameroons — a former British trust territory of West Africa
- british columbian — of or relating to British Columbia or its inhabitants
- british-cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- brompton cocktail — an analgesic mixture, usually containing morphine and cocaine and sometimes other narcotic substances in an alcohol solution, administered primarily to advanced cancer patients.
- bureaucratization — to divide an administrative agency or office into bureaus.
- cache consistency — cache coherency
- caesarean section — A Caesarean or a Caesarean section is an operation in which a baby is lifted out of a woman's womb through an opening cut in her abdomen.
- café-au-lait spot — a brown patch on the skin that can occur normally in small numbers or in neurofibromatosis, when they are more numerous
- cage zone melting — zone melting of a square bar of the material to be purified, done so that the impurities are concentrated at the corners.