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23-letter words containing a, d, r

  • dictionary of computing — Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
  • differentiable manifold — a manifold having the property that any two overlapping open sets are homeomorphic to locally Euclidean spaces whose coordinates are related by differentiable functions, a property with wide applications in mathematical physics and differential geometry.
  • differential compaction — differences in the extent to which sediment is compacted owing to topographic irregularities of the surface on which it is deposited.
  • differential psychology — the branch of psychology dealing with the study of characteristic differences or variations of groups or individuals, especially through the use of analytic techniques and statistical methods.
  • differential weathering — the difference in degree of discoloration, disintegration, etc., of rocks of different kinds exposed to the same environment.
  • digital subscriber line — (communications, protocol)   (DSL, or Digital Subscriber Loop, xDSL - see below) A family of digital telecommunications protocols designed to allow high speed data communication over the existing copper telephone lines between end-users and telephone companies. When two conventional modems are connected through the telephone system (PSTN), it treats the communication the same as voice conversations. This has the advantage that there is no investment required from the telephone company (telco) but the disadvantage is that the bandwidth available for the communication is the same as that available for voice conversations, usually 64 kb/s (DS0) at most. The twisted-pair copper cables into individual homes or offices can usually carry significantly more than 64 kb/s but the telco needs to handle the signal as digital rather than analog. There are many implementation of the basic scheme, differing in the communication protocol used and providing varying service levels. The throughput of the communication can be anything from about 128 kb/s to over 8 Mb/s, the communication can be either symmetric or asymmetric (i.e. the available bandwidth may or may not be the same upstream and downstream). Equipment prices and service fees also vary considerably. The first technology based on DSL was ISDN, although ISDN is not often recognised as such nowadays. Since then a large number of other protocols have been developed, collectively referred to as xDSL, including HDSL, SDSL, ADSL, and VDSL. As yet none of these have reached very wide deployment but wider deployment is expected for 1998-1999.
  • digital subscriber loop — Digital Subscriber Line
  • dionysius of alexandria — ("the Great") a.d. c190–265, patriarch of Alexandria 247?–265?.
  • direct characterization — the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed by the use of descriptive adjectives, phrases, or epithets.
  • direct distance dialing — a telephone network service feature enabling customers to direct-dial their long-distance calls.
  • direct primary election — a preliminary election at which candidates for public office are chosen by direct vote of the people instead of by delegates at a convention: in closed primary elections voters must declare party affiliation and may vote only for candidates of their party
  • director of photography — the person who is responsible for all operations concerning camera work and lighting during the production of a film.
  • discontinuous variation — variation in phenotypic traits in which types are grouped into discrete categories with few or no intermediate phenotypes. Compare continuous variation.
  • discrimination learning — a learning process in which an organism learns to react differently to different stimuli
  • dishonourable discharge — dismissal from the US armed forces by a court martial as a result of serious misconduct
  • disintegration constant — decay constant.
  • disjunctive normal form — (DNF) A logical formula consisting of a disjunction of conjunctions where no conjunction contains a disjunction. E.g. the DNF of (A or B) and C is (A and C) or (B and C).
  • dissociate oneself from — to deny or repudiate any connection with
  • dissociative extraction — Dissociative extraction is when a component is divided between two liquids, which involves breakdown of the component.
  • distributive bargaining — a negotiation process aimed at reaching a compromise agreement over how resources may be allocated between the parties
  • do someone's heart good — to make someone happy; please someone
  • dollar (cost) averaging — see average (sense 11)
  • dr. jekyll and mr. hyde — (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) a novel (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • draw a line in the sand — to put a stop to or a limit on
  • draw/make a distinction — If you draw a distinction or make a distinction, you say that two things are different.
  • drawing exchange format — (DXF) A file format for graphical information, similar to IGES. Commonly used by CAD systems like AutoCAD.
  • drop into someone's lap — to cause to be someone's responsibility
  • drummond of hawthornden — William. 1585–1649, Scottish poet, historian, and royalist pamphleteer
  • dual sensory impairment — the condition of being affected by sight and hearing loss
  • earliest deadline first — (operating system, algorithm)   (EDF) A strategy for CPU or disk access scheduling. With EDF, the task with the earliest deadline is always executed first.
  • earthquake-proof design — Earthquake-proof design is design which will not be badly damaged by earthquakes or tsunamis.
  • eastern lowland gorilla — the largest of the anthropoid apes, Gorilla gorilla, terrestrial and vegetarian, of western equatorial Africa and the Kivu highlands, comprising the subspecies G. g. gorilla (western lowland gorilla) G. g. graueri (eastern lowland gorilla) and G. g. beringei (mountain gorilla) now rare.
  • eastern orthodox church — Orthodox Church (def 1).
  • eating your own dogfood — eating one's own dogfood
  • ecclesiastical calendar — a calendar based on the lunisolar cycle, used by many Christian churches in determining the dates for the movable feasts.
  • education correspondent — a journalist who reports news in the field of education or teaching
  • electronic mail address — (messaging)   (Usually "e-mail address") The string used to specify the source or destination of an electronic mail message. E.g. "[email protected]". The RFC 822 standard is probably the most widely used on the Internet. X.400 was once used in Europe and Canada. UUCP-style (bang path) addresses or other kinds of source route became virtually extinct in the 1990s. In the example above, "john" is the local part which is the name of a mailbox on the destination computer. If the sender and recipient use the same computer, or the same LAN, for electronic mail then the local part is usually all that is required. If they use different computers, e.g. they work at different companies or use different Internet service providers, then the "host part", e.g. "sales.acme.com" must be appended after an "@". This usually takes the form of a fully qualified domain name or, within a large organisation, it may be just the hostname part, e.g. "sales". The destination computer named by the host part is usually a server of some kind rather than an individual's workstation or PC. The user's mail is stored on the server and read later via client mail software running on the user's computer. Large organisations, such as universities will often set up a global alias directory which maps a simple user name such as "jsmith" to an address which contains more information such as "[email protected]". This hides the detailed knowledge of where the message will be delivered from the sender, making it much easier to redirect mail if a user leaves or moves to a different department for example.
  • electrostatic discharge — (hardware, testing)   (ESD) One kind of test that hardware usually has to pass to prove it is suitable for sale and use. The hardware must still work after is has been subjected to some level of electrostatic discharge. Some organisations have their own ESD requirements which hardware must meet before it will be considered for purchase. Different countries have different legal regulations about levels of ESD. See also Radio Frequency Interference, Electromagnetic Compatibility.
  • embden-meyerhof pathway — the metabolic reaction sequence in glycolysis by which glucose is converted to pyruvic acid with production of ATP
  • encapsulated postscript — (EPS) An extension of the PostScript graphics file format developed by Adobe Systems. EPS is used for PostScript graphics files that are to be incorporated into other documents. An EPS file includes pragmas (special PostScript comments) giving information such as the bounding box, page number and fonts used. On some computers, EPS files include a low resolution version of the PostScript image. On the Macintosh this is in PICT format, while on the IBM PC it is in TIFF or Microsoft Windows metafile format.
  • endorsement advertising — the practice of saying that you approve of a company or product by appearing in advertisements for it
  • expanded memory manager — (software, storage)   (EMM) IBM PC memory manager software implementing Expanded Memory Specification, such as EMM386 or QEMM386. EMMs can usually provide UMB as well.
  • extended graphics array — (hardware)   (XGA) An IBM display standard introduced in 1990. XGA supports a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels with a palette of 256 colours, or 640 x 480 with high colour (16 bits per pixel). XGA-2 added 1024 x 768 support for high colour and higher refresh rates, improved performance, and supports 1360 x 1024 in 16 colours. XGA is probably not the same as 8514-A. See also VESA's EVGA released at a similar time.
  • extended memory manager — (software, storage)   (XMM) The memory manager software implementing Extended Memory Specification, such as HIMEM or QEMM386. XMM's can usually also act as A20 handlers.
  • extended reach drilling — Extended reach drilling is drilling a well horizontally to at least twice its vertical depth.
  • extracorporeal dialysis — the filtering of circulating blood through a semipermeable membrane in an apparatus
  • extraordinary rendition — the process by which a country seizes a person assumed to be involved in terrorist activity and then transports him or her for interrogation to a country where due process of law is unlikely to be respected
  • fear-driven development — (jargon, humour)   When project management adds more pressure (fires someone or something). A play on test-driven development.
  • fendalton shopping cart — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
  • field effect transistor — a transistor in which the output current is varied by varying the value of an electric field within a region of the device. Abbreviation: FET.
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