17-letter words containing a, d, n, t
- 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.
- dead in the water — If you say that someone or something is dead in the water, you are emphasizing that they have failed, and that there is little hope of them being successful in the future.
- dead tree edition — dead tree
- deadly nightshade — a poisonous Eurasian solanaceous plant, Atropa belladonna, having dull purple bell-shaped flowers and small very poisonous black berries
- decellularization — (biology, medicine) The loss of cells from tissue.
- deceptive cadence — a cadence consisting of a dominant harmony followed by a resolution to a harmony other than the tonic.
- decontextualizing — to remove (a linguistic element, an action, etc.) from a context: decontextualized works of art displayed in museums.
- decriminalisation — (chiefly, British) Alternative form of decriminalization.
- decriminalization — to eliminate criminal penalties for or remove legal restrictions against: to decriminalize marijuana.
- dedifferentiating — Present participle of dedifferentiate.
- dedifferentiation — the reversion of the cells of differentiated tissue to a less specialized form
- deepwater horizon — an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, 40 miles (64km) south-east off the coast of Louisiana, that suffered a massive oil spill following an explosion in April 2010
- defamiliarisation — (arts) The representation of objects anew, in a way that we do not recognize, or that changes our reading of them.
- defamiliarization — Art, Literature. a theory and technique, originating in the early 20th century, in which an artistic or literary work presents familiar objects or situations in an unfamiliar way, prolonging the perceptive process and allowing for a fresh perspective.
- defence secretary — the member of a government who is responsible for the country's armed forces
- deficit financing — Deficit financing is the financing of government spending through borrowing rather than revenue.
- definite integral — the evaluation of the indefinite integral between two limits, representing the area between the given function and the x-axis between these two values of x
- degenerate matter — the highly compressed state of matter, esp in white dwarfs and neutron stars, supported against gravitational collapse by quantum mechanical effects
- dehistoricization — The process or result of dehistoricizing.
- dehospitalization — hospitalization insurance.
- dehydrochlorinate — to remove hydrogen chloride or chlorine and hydrogen from (a substance).
- deindustrializing — Present participle of deindustrialize.
- delaney amendment — an amendment to the U. S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act banning the use of carcinogenic food additives, as certain artificial sweeteners and food colorings.
- delay instruction — delayed control-transfer
- demand management — the regulation of total spending in an economy to required levels, attempted by a government esp in order to avoid unemployment or inflation: a measure advocated by Keynesian economists
- dematerialisation — The act or process of dematerializing.
- dematerialization — The act or process of dematerializing.
- demonstrativeness — The state or quality of being demonstrative.
- demythologization — The act of demythologizing, or something demythologized.
- denationalisation — Alternative spelling of denationalization.
- denationalization — to remove (an industry or the like) from government ownership or control.
- denatured alcohol — ethanol rendered unfit for human consumption by the addition of a noxious substance, as in methylated spirits
- dendroclimatology — The science that uses dendrochronology to reconstruct historical climate conditions.
- denominate number — a number associated with a unit of measurement.
- denominationalism — adherence to particular principles, esp to the tenets of a religious denomination; sectarianism
- denominationalist — One imbued with a denominational spirit.
- dental technician — a person who constructs and repairs artificial teeth
- departmentalizing — Present participle of departmentalize.
- depersonalisation — Alternative spelling of depersonalization.
- depersonalization — the act or an instance of depersonalizing
- dephlogisticating — Present participle of dephlogisticate.
- dephosphorylation — the removal of a phosphate group from an organic compound, as in the changing of ATP to ADP.
- deportation order — a notification that a foreign national is legally required to leave the country
- designated driver — The designated driver in a group of people travelling together is the one who has agreed to drive, or who is insured to drive.
- designated hitter — In baseball, a designated hitter is a player who bats in place of the pitcher.
- despotic monarchy — absolute monarchy.
- destination store — A destination store draws customers by selling unusual items, or having a friendly atmosphere, special pricing, and other desirable characteristics.