17-letter words containing a, d, n, e
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- closed-captioning — (of a television program, film, or video) distributed with synchronized transcription of speech and written descriptions of other relevant audio elements, as for the hearing-impaired, that are visible only when the option to display them is selected. Abbreviation: CC.
- closing-down sale — a sale held to clear stock from a shop that is ceasing to operate
- codlins-and-cream — an onagraceous plant, Epilobium hirsutum, native to Europe and Asia and introduced into North America, having purplish-red flowers and hairy stems and leaves
- colleterial gland — a paired accessory reproductive gland, present in most female insects, secreting a sticky substance that forms either the egg cases or the cement that binds the eggs to a surface
- color-coordinated — with all parts or elements related, blended, or matched to a particular color scheme.
- come to handgrips — to engage in hand-to-hand fighting
- comedie francaise — the French national theatre, founded in Paris in 1680
- comedy of manners — a comedy dealing with the way of life and foibles of a social group
- company commander — the commander of a company of soldiers
- compartmentalised — Simple past tense and past participle of compartmentalise.
- compartmentalized — separated into several discrete areas
- compass deviation — deviation (def 4).
- compensated grade — a grade that has been reduced along a curve to offset the additional resistance due to the curve.
- complementary dna — a form of DNA artificially synthesized from a messenger RNA template and used in genetic engineering to produce gene clones
- compound fracture — A compound fracture is a fracture in which the broken bone sticks through the skin.
- compound interval — an interval that is greater than an octave, as a ninth or a thirteenth.
- consolidated fund — a fund into which tax revenue is paid in order to meet standing charges, esp interest payments on the national debt
- consolidated laws — a body of laws collected together in a single codifying statute
- consumer advocate — consumerist (def 1).
- consumer watchdog — an organization or government agency that campaigns for consumers
- consumer-advocate — Also called consumer advocate. a person who is dedicated to protecting and promoting the welfare and rights of consumers.
- continental drift — Continental drift is the slow movement of the Earth's continents towards and away from each other.
- contradictoriness — asserting the contrary or opposite; contradicting; inconsistent; logically opposite: contradictory statements.
- contradistinctive — distinction by opposition or contrast: plants and animals in contradistinction to humans.
- coordinate clause — one of two or more clauses in a sentence having the same status and introduced by coordinating conjunctions
- coordinate system — a system of coordinates that uses numbers to represent a point, line, or the like.
- count one's beads — to pray with a rosary
- counterpropaganda — propaganda to offset or nullify unfriendly or enemy propaganda.
- credit memorandum — a memorandum issued to an account allowing a credit or reducing a debit, especially one posted to a customer's account.
- cushing's disease — a rare condition caused by excess corticosteroid hormones in the body, characterized chiefly by obesity of the trunk and face, high blood pressure, fatigue, and loss of calcium from the bones
- cut a person dead — to ignore a person completely
- cyanogen chloride — a colorless, volatile, poisonous liquid, CNCl, used chiefly in the synthesis of compounds containing the cyano group.
- cyclamen aldehyde — a colorless to light-yellow alcohol-soluble, synthetic liquid, C 13 H 18 O, having a strong floral odor, used chiefly in perfumes, especially those of soap.
- cylinder capacity — the cylinder volume that is swept by the pistons of an internal-combustion engine
- d&o insurance — D&O insurance is a personal liability insurance that provides cover to the directors and senior executives of a company.
- dagestan republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the Caspian Sea: annexed from Persia in 1813; rich mineral resources. Capital: Makhachkala. Pop: 2 584 200 (2002). Area: 50 278 sq km (19 416 sq miles)
- damage limitation — Damage limitation is action that is taken to make the bad results of something as small as possible, when it is impossible to avoid bad results completely.
- dangerous driving — the act of driving a motor vehicle in a manner that falls far below that expected of a competent and careful driver and hence puts the life of the driver and the lives of other road users at risk
- dante (alighieri) — (born Durante Alighieri) 1265-1321; It. poet: wrote The Divine Comedy
- daphnis and chloe — two lovers in pastoral literature, esp in a prose idyll attributed to the Greek writer Longus
- dark-complexioned — (of a person) having a dark complexion
- darwinian fitness — fitness (def 3).
- darwinian-fitness — health.
- data service unit — (communications) (DSU or "data service unit") A device used in digital transmission for connecting a CSU (Channel Service Unit) to Data Terminal Equipment (a terminal or computer), in the same way that a modem is used for connection to an analogue medium. A DSU provides a standard interface to a user's terminal which is compatible with modems and handles such functions as signal translation, regeneration, reformatting, and timing. The transmitting portion of the DSU processeses the customers' signal into bipolar pulses suitable for transmission over the digital facility. The receiving portion of the DSU is used both to extract timing information and to regenerate mark and space information from the received bipolar signal.
- daughter language — a language that has evolved from another specified language.
- david livingstone — David, 1813–73, Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa.
- de facto standard — A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, but which nevertheless has a large market share. The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the IBM PC which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the personal computer market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development.
- de-baathification — the process of removing the members and influence of the Ba'ath Party from public office in Iraq following the US-led invasion of 2003
- de-specialization — the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work: Medical students with high student loans often feel driven into specialization.