26-letter words containing a, e, d, i, l, s
- indefinite relative clause — a relative clause with an indefinite relative pronoun as subordinating word, as what they said in We heard what they said.
- individualized instruction — a teaching method tailored to the skills, abilities, and interests of the individual student
- inflammatory bowel disease — any intestinal inflammatory disease, especially Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, of unknown cause. Abbreviation: IBD.
- insulin-dependent diabetes — See under diabetes.
- intermodulation distortion — (electronics, communications) (IMD) Nonlinear distortion in a system or transducer, characterised by the appearance in the output of frequencies equal to the sums and differences of integral multiples of the two or more component frequencies present in the input waveform.
- international grand master — a chess player in the highest class of ability, as determined through specified types of international competitions.
- international screw thread — a metric system for screw threads relating the pitch to the diameter
- irreconcilable differences — disagreements between people, esp two married people, that cannot be resolved
- knights of the round table — a legendary order of knights created by King Arthur.
- law of diminishing returns — diminishing returns (def 2).
- leave to one's own devices — to allow to do as one wishes
- lossless audio compression — (audio, compression) Any kind of audio compression in which the original signal and the decoded signal are bitwise identical. Lossless audio compression algorithms are usually based on a data compression algorithm like PKzip or gzip but specialized for PCM audio data. The signal is divided into predictable tonal components and unpredictable noisy components. Tonal components are stored as coefficients of a predictor, the remaining signal is coded by Rice coding, Huffman coding or arithmetic coding.
- lysergic acid diethylamide — LSD2 .
- made one's bed...lie in it — If you say that someone has made their bed and must lie in it, you mean that since they have chosen to do a particular thing, they must now accept the unpleasant results of their action.
- many-worlds interpretation — an interpretation of quantum mechanics based on the idea that every possible event exists in its own world
- mongolian hordes technique — (programming, jargon) (Or "Chinese Army technique") Assigning a large number of inexperienced programmers to a job which would better performed by a few skilled ones. The term was first used by Dr. Fred Brooks in his book "The Mythical Man-Month", Chapter 3. According to Dr. Brooks, he had in mind the vision of the Mongol Hordes sweeping across Asia and Europe when he created the term.
- monochrome display adapter — (hardware, graphics) (MDA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PC. MDA can display only monochrome 80*25 text (IBM PC video mode 7). It is now obsolete.
- most-favored-nation clause — a clause in a commercial treaty or contract by which each signatory agrees to give the other the same treatment that is or will be accorded any other nation.
- mutual assured destruction — a U.S. doctrine of reciprocal deterrence resting on the U.S. and Soviet Union each being able to inflict unacceptable damage on the other in retaliation for a nuclear attack.
- national database language — (database, standard) (NDL) A US standard for portability of database definitions and application programs.
- newfoundland standard time — one of the standard times used in Canada, three and a half hours behind Greenwich Mean Time
- obscene publications squad — a division of the police force which deals with illegal books, pictures, or films which are judged obscene because they deal with sex or violence in a way that is considered offensive to the general public
- official production system — (language) (OPS) The first production system (i.e. rule based) programming language, developed at CMU in 1970 and used for building expert systems. OPS was originally written in Franz Lisp and later ported to other LISP dialects.
- period-luminosity relation — the relationship between the period of light variation and of the absolute magnitude of Cepheid variable stars.
- personal digital assistant — a handheld computer, often pen-based, that provides especially organizational software, as an appointment calendar, and communications hardware, as a fax modem. Abbreviation: PDA.
- plain old telephone system — Public Switched Telephone Network
- postprandial thermogenesis — the rate at which food is broken down after a meal and used by your body
- pulse-amplitude modulation — modulation of the amplitude of a train of electric pulses used to carry signals (pulse carrier) Abbreviation: PAM.
- quasi-stellar radio source — a quasar having detectable radio emission. Abbreviation: QSS.
- red-backed squirrel monkey — a related species, Saimiri oerstedi, of Central America, having a reddish coat and dark brown limbs
- renderman shading language — ["The RenderMan Companion", S. Upstill, A-W 1989, chaps 13-15].
- reticuloendothelial system — the aggregate of the phagocytic cells, including certain cells of the bone marrow, lymphatic system, liver, and spleen, that have reticular and endothelial characteristics and function in the immune system's defense against foreign bodies. Abbreviation: RES.
- richardson ground squirrel — a ground squirrel, Citellus richardsoni, of sagebrush and grassland areas of the northwestern U.S. and adjacent regions in Canada.
- round peg in a square hole — a person in a position, situation, etc. for which he or she is unsuited or unqualified
- santiago de los caballeros — a city in the N central Dominican Republic.
- shielded metal arc welding — Shielded metal arc welding is a process in which a coated wire is melted to fill spaces between parts. The molten coating floats to the surface of the molten metal to protect it from the atmosphere.
- simulating digital systems — Fortran-like language for describing computer logic design. Sammet 1969, p.622.
- sixty-four-dollar question — the critical or basic question or problem: Whether the measure will get through Congress this session or not is the sixty-four-dollar question.
- square peg in a round hole — If you describe someone as a square peg in a round hole, you mean that they are in a situation or doing something that does not suit them at all.
- st andrews static language — (language) (SASL) A functional programming language designed by Professor David Turner in 1976 whilst at St. Andrews University. SASL is a derivative of ISWIM with infinite data structures. It is fully lazy but weakly typed. It was designed for teaching functional programming, with very simple syntax. Example syntax: def fac n = n = 0 -> 1 ; n x fac(n-1) A version of the expert system EMYCIN has been written in SASL. SASL was originally known as "St Andrews Standard Language". Not to be confused with SISAL.
- staffordshire bull terrier — one of an English breed of strong, stocky, muscular dogs having a broad skull and a smooth coat, in combinations of red, white, black, or blue, originally raised for bullbaiting and later dogfighting, but now bred as a companion dog.
- statistical-thermodynamics — the science that deals with average properties of the molecules, atoms, or elementary particles in random motion in a system of many such particles and relates these properties to the thermodynamic and other macroscopic properties of the system.
- straight from the shoulder — direct, honest, and forceful in expression; outspoken.
- straight-from-the-shoulder — direct, honest, and forceful in expression; outspoken.
- straight-line depreciation — Straight-line depreciation is a method of depreciation in which an equal amount of depreciation is taken each year.
- the battle lines are drawn — If you say that the battle lines are drawn between opposing groups or people, you mean that they are ready to start fighting or arguing, and that it has become clear what the main points of conflict or disagreement will be.
- the inland revenue service — (in the US) a government board that administers and collects major direct taxes
- three-dimensional printing — the creation of solid objects by building up multiple layers, each layer corresponding to a plan held in a digital file
- to catch hold of something — Hold is used in expressions such as grab hold of, catch hold of, and get hold of, to indicate that you close your hand tightly around something, for example to stop something moving or falling.
- to rub salt into the wound — If someone or something rubs salt into the wound, they make the unpleasant situation that you are in even worse, often by reminding you of your failures or faults.