16-letter words containing a, e, o, n
- expansion bottle — a tank collecting coolant from a radiator while an engine is heated, and from which the coolant returns to the radiator when the engine cools
- expectant mother — a pregnant woman
- experimentations — Plural form of experimentation.
- exploration well — An exploration well is a borehole which is drilled to find out if there is any oil or gas in a place.
- exponential horn — a horn for the radiation of acoustic or high-frequency electromagnetic waves, of which the cross-sectional area increases exponentially with the length
- exponential-time — (complexity) The set or property of problems which can be solved by an exponential-time algorithm but for which no polynomial-time algorithm is known.
- extemporaneously — In an extemporaneous manner; without prior preparation or planning.
- extension ladder — a ladder that can be made longer by pulling out an extra section
- external auditor — sb brought in to check financial records
- external storage — storage, as on disk or tape, supplemental to and slower than main storage, not under the direct control of the CPU and generally contained outside it: Secondary storage for this system is contained on videodisk.
- extradimensional — (jargon, science fiction) Originating outside the known physical reality of the universe.
- extrinsic factor — vitamin B12
- face recognition — the ability of a computer to scan, store, and recognize human faces for use in identifying people
- fade-in fade-out — an optical effect in which a shot appears gradually out of darkness and then gradually disappears
- false dragonhead — a North American plant, Physostegia virginiana, of the mint family, having a spike of tubular, two-lipped, pink or white flowers.
- family allowance — a regular government payment to the parents of children up to a certain age
- fandango on core — (jargon, programming) (Unix/C, from the Mexican dance) In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a core dump, or corrupts the malloc arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have "done a fandango on core". On low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can corrupt the operating system itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi, may be substituted. See aliasing bug, precedence lossage, smash the stack, memory leak, memory smash, overrun screw, core.
- fashion business — the business dealing with style in clothes, cosmetics, behaviour, etc, esp the latest or most admired style
- fashion designer — creator of clothing designs
- fashion magazine — periodical about trendy clothing
- father confessor — confessor (def 2).
- federation wheat — an early-maturing drought-resistant variety of wheat developed by William Farrar in 1902
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- fellow passenger — a person travelling on the same vehicle, plane, ship etc as you
- ferdinand marcos — Ferdinand E(dralin) [ed-ruh-lin] /ˈɛd rə lɪn/ (Show IPA), 1917–1989, Philippine political leader: president 1965–86.
- ferrocyanic acid — a white, crystalline, unstable, water-soluble solid, H 4 Fe(CN) 6 , obtained by the interaction of a ferrocyanide and an acid.
- feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA
- fibonacci number — a number in the Fibonacci sequence, each of which is the sum of the previous two
- fibonacci series — a sequence of integers in which each integer (Fibonacci number) after the second is the sum of the two preceding integers; specif., the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . .
- fifth-generation — denoting developments in computer design to produce machines with artificial intelligence
- finance director — financial manager
- finite automaton — Finite State Machine
- fire regulations — rules intended to make sure that people and property stay safe in the event of a fire
- first generation — 1. (architecture) first generation computer. 2. (language) first generation language.
- first-generation — being the first generation of a family to be born in a particular country.
- fisherman's knot — a knot for joining two ropes of equal thickness consisting of an overhand knot or double overhand knot by each rope round the other, so that the two knots jam when pulled tight
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- flash eliminator — a device fitted to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the flash made by the ignited propellant gases
- florencio varela — a city in E Argentina, near Buenos Aires.
- floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
- flower arranging — Flower arranging is the art or hobby of arranging cut flowers in a way which makes them look attractive.
- fluorescent lamp — a tubular electric discharge lamp in which light is produced by the fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of the tube.
- food intolerance — an intolerance of a specific type of food, causing an adverse reaction
- for a/one minute — If you say that you do not believe for a minute or for one minute that something is true, you are emphasizing that you do not believe that it is true.
- for a/one moment — If you say that you do not believe for a moment or for one moment that something is true, you are emphasizing that you do not believe that it could possibly be true.
- for external use — If medicine is for external use, it is intended to be used only on the outside of your body, and not to be eaten or drunk.
- for the duration — If you say that something will happen for the duration, you mean that it will happen for as long as a particular situation continues.
- for the meantime — For the meantime means for a period of time from now until something else happens.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way