18-letter words containing a, e, c, u
- clean up one's act — to start to behave in a responsible manner
- coast-guard cutter — a cutter used by the U.S. Coast Guard.
- cock-a-leekie soup — a soup made from a fowl boiled with leeks
- coffee-table music — unadventurous music
- colour commentator — a sports celebrity who works as part of a commentary team
- colour temperature — the temperature of a black-body radiator at which it would emit radiation of the same chromaticity as the light under consideration
- combination square — an adjustable device for carpenters, used as a try square, miter square, level, etc.
- combustion chamber — an enclosed space in which combustion takes place, such as the space above the piston in the cylinder head of an internal-combustion engine or the chambers in a gas turbine or rocket engine in which fuel and oxidant burn
- combustion furnace — a furnace used in the laboratory to carry out elemental analysis of organic compounds
- common user access — (programming) (CUA) The user interface standard of SAA.
- communication line — a line carrying communications
- community language — a language spoken by members of a minority group or community within a majority language context
- commutation ticket — a ticket entitling the holder to travel over the same route, as on a railroad, a specified number of times at a reduced rate
- compassion fatigue — the inability to react sympathetically to a crisis, disaster, etc, because of overexposure to previous crises, disasters, etc
- complexity measure — (algorithm) A quantity describing the complexity of a computation.
- computer animation — animated film or video that is generated by computers
- computer-generated — produced by a computer program
- conceptual realism — the doctrine that universals have real and independent existence.
- conceptualisations — Plural form of conceptualisation.
- conceptualizations — Plural form of conceptualization.
- concrete universal — a principle that necessarily has universal import but is also concrete by virtue of its arising in historical situations.
- concussion grenade — a grenade designed to inflict damage by the force of its detonation rather than by the fragmentation of its casing.
- conductivity water — water that has a conductivity of less than 0.043 × 10–6 S cm–1
- configuration item — (jargon) Hardware or software, or an aggregate of both, which is designated by the project configuration manager (or contracting agency) for configuration management.
- congregate housing — a type of housing in which each individual or family has a private bedroom or living quarters but shares with other residents a common dining room, recreational room, or other facilities.
- conjugate solution — a system of liquids, each partially miscible in the other, existing with a common interface, consisting of a saturated solution of one in the other.
- conjugated protein — a biochemical compound consisting of a sequence of amino acids making up a simple protein to which another nonprotein group (a prosthetic group), such as a carbohydrate or lipid group, is attached
- connected subgraph — (mathematics) A connected graph consisting of a subset of the nodes and edges of some other graph.
- consecrated ground — ground that has been made or declared sacred or holy, and is therefore suitable for Christian burial
- consequential loss — A consequential loss is a loss that follows another loss that is caused by a danger that has been insured against.
- considered harmful — (programming, humour) A type of phrase based on the title of Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM, "Goto Statement Considered Harmful", which fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print articles taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies bore titles of the form "X considered Y". The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realisation that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke.
- constituency party — a branch of a political party operating within a constituency
- constitution state — Connecticut (used as a nickname).
- constitutionalized — Simple past tense and past participle of constitutionalize.
- construction paper — Construction paper is a type of stiff, colored paper that children use for drawing and for making things.
- contents insurance — the insurance for the personal property in a household
- continuation sheet — (in a document) a page that continues from the one before it, containing similar information
- continued fraction — a number plus a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction, and so on
- contract furniture — furniture designed and manufactured for commercial installation, as in offices, waiting rooms, or lobbies.
- cool as a cucumber — very calm; self-possessed
- cornucopian thesis — the belief that, as long as science and technology continue to advance, growth can continue for ever because these new advances create new resources
- coronary care unit — a unit in a hospital dedicated to treating coronary heart disease
- coronary-care unit — a specialized hospital unit for the early care and treatment of heart-attack patients. Abbreviation: CCU.
- corpuscular theory — the theory, originally proposed by Newton, and revived with the development of the quantum theory, that light consists of a stream of particles
- costume department — the department in a theatre or television company that is responsible for actors' costumes
- couldn't care less — If you say that you couldn't care less about someone or something, you are emphasizing that you are not interested in them or worried about them. In American English, you can also say that you could care less, with the same meaning.
- counter-adaptation — the act of adapting.
- counter-aggression — the action of a state in violating by force the rights of another state, particularly its territorial rights; an unprovoked offensive, attack, invasion, or the like: The army is prepared to stop any foreign aggression.
- counterattractions — Plural form of counterattraction.
- counterculturalism — The counterculture movement or lifestyle.