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14-letter words containing a, d, r, o, i, t

  • quadratic form — a polynomial all of whose terms are of degree 2 in two or more variables, as 5 x 2 − 2 xy + 3 y 2 .
  • quarter window — (on a car) a small triangular side window with hinges that can be opened for extra ventilation
  • quodlibetarian — a person who writes, discusses or engages in quodlibets
  • race condition — Anomalous behavior due to unexpected critical dependence on the relative timing of events. For example, if one process writes to a file while another is reading from the same location then the data read may be the old contents, the new contents or some mixture of the two depending on the relative timing of the read and write operations. A common remedy in this kind of race condition is file locking; a more cumbersome remedy is to reorganize the system such that a certain processes (running a daemon or the like) is the only process that has access to the file, and all other processes that need to access the data in that file do so only via interprocess communication with that one process. As an example of a more subtle kind of race condition, consider a distributed chat network like IRC, where a user is granted channel-operator privileges in any channel he starts. If two users on different servers, on different ends of the same network, try to start the same-named channel at the same time, each user's respective server will grant channel-operator privileges to each user, since neither will yet have received the other's signal that that channel has been started. In this case of a race condition, the "shared resource" is the conception of the state of the network (what channels exist, as well as what users started them and therefore have what privileges), which each server is free to change as long as it signals the other servers on the network about the changes so that they can update their conception of the state of the network. However, the latency across the network makes possible the kind of race condition described. In this case, heading off race conditions by imposing a form of control over access to the shared resource -- say, appointing one server to be in charge of who holds what privileges -- would mean turning the distributed network into a centralized one (at least for that one part of the network operation). Where this is not acceptable, the more pragmatic solution is to have the system recognize when a race condition has occurred and to repair the ill effects. Race conditions also affect electronic circuits where the value output by a logic gate depends on the exact timing of two or more input signals. For example, consider a two input AND gate fed with a logic signal X on input A and its negation, NOT X, on input B. In theory, the output (X AND NOT X) should never be high. However, if changes in the value of X take longer to propagate to input B than to input A then when X changes from false to true, there will be a brief period during which both inputs are true, and so the gate's output will also be true. If this output is fed to an edge-sensitive component such as a counter or flip-flop then the temporary effect ("glitch") will become permanent.
  • radiation belt — Van Allen belt.
  • radicalization — to make radical or more radical, as in politics: young people who are being radicalized by extremist philosophies.
  • radio cassette — A radio cassette is a radio and a cassette player together in a single machine.
  • radio operator — a person who operates or controls a radio transmitter
  • radio spectrum — the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes radio waves.
  • radioacoustics — the science and technology of the production, transmission, and reproduction of sounds carried by radio waves.
  • radioautograph — autoradiograph.
  • radiobroadcast — a broadcast by radio.
  • radiochemistry — the chemical study of radioactive elements, both natural and artificial, and their use in the study of chemical processes.
  • radioresistant — resistant to the effects of radiation
  • radiosensitive — (of certain tissues or organisms) sensitive to or destructible by various types of radiant energy, as x-rays, rays from radioactive material, or the like.
  • radiosensitize — to make (cells) more sensitive to radiation
  • radiostrontium — strontium 90.
  • radiotelegraph — a telegraph in which messages or signals are sent by means of radio waves rather than through wires or cables.
  • radiotelemeter — the equipment used for radiotelemetry
  • radiotelemetry — the use of radio waves for transmitting information from a distant instrument to a device that indicates or records the measurements
  • radiotelephone — a telephone in which sound or speech is transmitted by means of radio waves instead of through wires or cables.
  • radiotelephony — the constructing or operating of radiotelephones.
  • radiotherapist — radiologist
  • railroad track — railway line
  • rainbow darter — a stout darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, inhabiting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainages, the spawning male of which has the sides marked with oblique blue bars with red interspaces.
  • random testing — (programming, testing)   A black-box testing approach in which software is tested by choosing an arbitrary subset of all possible input values. Random testing helps to avoid the problem of only testing what you know will work.
  • rational dress — long loose trousers gathered at the ankle and worn under a shorter skirt
  • rationalized c — (language)   (RatC, after "RATFOR") A version of Ron Cain's original Small-C compiler.
  • reading notice — a short advertisement placed at the bottom of a column, as on the front page of a newspaper, and often set in the same print as other matter.
  • readjudication — an act of adjudicating.
  • recodification — the act, process, or result of arranging in a systematic form or code.
  • recommendation — an act of recommending.
  • recondensation — the act or process of condensing again
  • reconsolidated — to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite; combine: They consolidated their three companies.
  • record cabinet — a piece of furniture like a cupboard, designed to hold or display vinyl records stacked on their side
  • recording tape — a ribbon of material, esp magnetic tape, used to record sound, images and data, used in a tape recorder
  • redeliberation — careful consideration before decision.
  • redintegration — the act or process of redintegrating.
  • rediscountable — able to be rediscounted
  • redistillation — further distillation; purification of liquid through many distillations
  • reindoctrinate — to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.
  • repudiationist — someone who believes that a given thing should be repudiated
  • retrogradation — backward movement.
  • ride at anchor — to be anchored
  • right of abode — If someone is given the right of abode in a particular country, they are legally allowed to live there.
  • rigidification — the state or process of stiffening or rigidifying
  • road stability — the extent to which a motor vehicle is stable and does not skid, esp at high speeds, or on sharp bends or wet roads
  • rock partridge — the Greek partridge; Alectoris graeca
  • sacred history — history that is retold with the aim of instilling religious faith and which may or may not be founded on fact
  • saint gotthard — a mountain range in S Switzerland; a part of the Alps; highest peak, 10,490 feet (3195 meters).
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