19-letter words containing a, e, r, i, u
- contractile vacuole — a membrane-enveloped cellular organelle, found in many microorganisms, that periodically expands, filling with water, and then contracts, expelling its contents to the cell exterior: thought to be important in maintaining hydrostatic equilibrium.
- contradistinguished — Simple past tense and past participle of contradistinguish.
- contradistinguishes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of contradistinguish.
- cooccurrence matrix — (mathematics) Given a position operator P(i,j), let A be a nxn matrix whose element A[i][j] is the number of times that points with grey level (intensity) g[i] occur, in the position specified by P, relative to points with grey level g[j]. Let C be the nxn matrix that is produced by dividing A with the total number of point pairs that satisfy P. C[i][j] is a measure of the joint probability that a pair of points satisfying P will have values g[i], g[j]. C is called a cooccurrence matrix defined by P. Examples for the operator P are: "i above j", "i one position to the right and two below j", etc.
- coordination number — the number of coordinated species surrounding the central atom in a complex or crystal
- corporal punishment — Corporal punishment is the punishment of people by hitting them.
- corporate venturing — the provision of venture capital by one company for another in order to obtain information about the company requiring capital or as a step towards acquiring it
- corrosive sublimate — mercuric chloride
- counter reformation — the movement within the Roman Catholic Church that followed the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
- counter-advertising — the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc.: to get more customers by advertising.
- counter-programming — to schedule (a broadcast on radio or television) to compete with one on another station.
- counter-reformation — the reform movement of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th and early 17th centuries considered as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation
- countersurveillance — The art of evading surveillance.
- countervailing duty — an extra import duty imposed by a country on certain imports, esp to prevent dumping or to counteract subsidies in the exporting country
- creative accounting — Creative accounting is when companies present or organize their accounts in such a way that they gain money for themselves or give a false impression of their profits.
- credit default swap — a contract in which the parties exchange the exposure to loss should a creditor fail to make a payment when it comes due back
- creeping featuritis — (jargon) /kree'ping fee'-chr-i:`t*s/ A variant of creeping featurism, with its own spoonerism: "feeping creaturitis". Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. -ism means "condition" or "pursuit of", whereas -itis usually means "inflammation of".
- crystallized fruits — fruits that are covered in sugar which is melted and then allowed to harden
- cudgel one's brains — to think hard about a problem
- cult of personality — a cult promoting adulation of a living national leader or public figure, as one encouraged by Stalin to extend his power.
- cultivated mushroom — an edible mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) with a pale cap and stalk: the most common food mushroom
- cultural relativism — a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. Also called cultural relativism. Compare ethnocentrism (def 2).
- cultural relativity — a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. Also called cultural relativism. Compare ethnocentrism (def 2).
- cultural revolution — (in China) a mass movement (1965–68), in which the youthful Red Guard played a prominent part. It was initiated by Mao Tse-tung to destroy the power of the bureaucrats and to revolutionize the attitudes and behaviour of the people
- cultural-relativism — a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. Also called cultural relativism. Compare ethnocentrism (def 2).
- cup-and-saucer vine — a woody, Mexican vine, Cobaea scandens, of the phlox family, having bell-shaped, violet-colored or greenish-purple flowers with an inflated, leaflike calyx and long, curved stamens.
- current liabilities — business liabilities maturing within a year
- curvilinear tracery — tracery, especially of the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by a pattern of irregular, boldly curved forms.
- customs declaration — a form declaring the nature and value of goods, etc, for customs purposes
- customs regulations — the regulations relating to customs in a particular country
- de broglie equation — the postulate of wave mechanics that a particle of mass m moving at a velocity v will have the properties of a wave of wavelength h / mv (de Broglie wavelength) where h is Planck's constant.
- deindustrialisation — Alternative spelling of deindustrialization.
- deindustrialization — the decline in importance of manufacturing industry in the economy of a nation or area
- diamond-leaf laurel — a tree, Pittosporum rhombifolium, of Australia, having coarsely toothed, oval or diamond-shaped leaves and white flowers, widely planted as an ornamental in the southwestern U.S.
- difference equation — (mathematics) A relation between consecutive elements of a sequence. The first difference is D u(n) = u(n+1) - u(n) where u(n) is the nth element of sequence u. The second difference is u(n+2) + a u(n+1) + b u(n) = 0 can be converted to a difference equation (in this case, a second order linear difference equation): D2 u(n) + p D u(n) + q u(n) = 0 and vice versa. a, b, p, q are constants.
- differential backup — (operating system) A kind of backup that copies all files that have changed since the last full backup. Each differential backup will include all files in previous differential backups since the full backup so to restore a version of a file, you only need to search the full backup and the relevant differential backup. Some systems support differential backup by associating an "Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag whenever the file is modified to indicate that it should be included in the next backup. A differential backup does not change this flag, whereas an incremental backup resets it.
- directional coupler — (communications) (tap) A passive device used in cable systems to divide and combine radio frequency signals. A directional coupler has at least three ports: line in, line out, and the tap. The signal passes between line in and line out ports with loss referred to as the insertion loss. A small portion of the signal power applied to the line in port passes to the tap port. A signal applied to the tap port is passed to the line in port less the tap attenuation value. The tap signals are isolated from the line out port to prevent reflections. A signal applied to the line out port passes to the line in port and is isolated from the tap port. Some devices provide more than one tap output line (multi-taps).
- discretionary trust — a trust in which the beneficiaries' shares are not fixed in the trust deed but are left to the discretion of other persons, often the trustees
- discriminated union — (theory) The discriminated union of two sets A and B is A + B = {(inA, a) | a in A} U {(inB, b)| b in B} where inA and inB are arbitrary tags which specify which summand an element originates from. A type (especially an algebraic data type) might be described as a discriminated union if it is a sum type whose objects consist of a tag to say which part of the union they belong to and a value of the corresponding type.
- distance university — a degree-granting institution operating wholly or mainly by correspondence courses for students not resident on or within commuting distance of the campus.
- distinctive feature — a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.
- domain architecture — (systems analysis) A generic, organisational structure or design for software systems in a domain. The domain architecture contains the designs that are intended to satisfy requirements specified in the domain model. A domain architecture can be adapted to create designs for software systems within a domain and also provides a framework for configuring assets within individual software systems.
- double-helical gear — herringbone gear.
- draw the curtain on — to end
- early purple orchid — a Eurasian orchid, Orchis mascula, with purplish-crimson flowers and stems marked with blackish-purple spots
- earthquake engineer — a civil engineer who studies the effects of seismic activity on structures and consults on earthquake-resistant design and construction.
- east dunbartonshire — a council area of central Scotland to the N of Glasgow: part of Strathclyde region from 1975 until 1996: mainly agricultural and residential. Administrative centre: Kirkintilloch. Pop: 106 970 (2003 est). Area: 172 sq km (66 sq miles)
- ebola virus disease — Also called Ebola fever, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease. a usually fatal disease, a type of hemorrhagic fever, caused by the Ebola virus and marked by high fever, severe gastrointestinal distress, and bleeding.
- educational adviser — a person who provides advice and training to teachers about teaching methods and educational policies
- elastomeric closure — An elastomeric closure is a component that closes a piece of packaging. An elastomeric closure is made from a material that is able to resume its original shape when it is removed from the packaging and may be in direct contact with the drug enclosed in the pack.