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17-letter words containing a, f, e, r

  • david copperfield — a novel (1850) by Charles Dickens.
  • de facto standard — A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, but which nevertheless has a large market share. The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the IBM PC which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the personal computer market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development.
  • death certificate — A death certificate is an official certificate signed by a doctor which states the cause of a person's death.
  • dedifferentiating — Present participle of dedifferentiate.
  • dedifferentiation — the reversion of the cells of differentiated tissue to a less specialized form
  • defamiliarisation — (arts) The representation of objects anew, in a way that we do not recognize, or that changes our reading of them.
  • defamiliarization — Art, Literature. a theory and technique, originating in the early 20th century, in which an artistic or literary work presents familiar objects or situations in an unfamiliar way, prolonging the perceptive process and allowing for a fresh perspective.
  • defence secretary — the member of a government who is responsible for the country's armed forces
  • definite integral — the evaluation of the indefinite integral between two limits, representing the area between the given function and the x-axis between these two values of x
  • denial of service — a deliberate interruption in access to a computer system or network, esp by using multiple computers to generate an unmanageable volume of traffic (distributed denial of service)
  • denial-of-service — pertaining to or being an incident in which a computer or computer network is disabled, disrupting access or service: a website hit by a denial-of-service attack; unintentional denial-of-service problems.
  • deprofessionalise — to remove from professional control, influence, manipulation, etc.
  • deprofessionalize — to remove from professional control, influence, manipulation, etc.
  • differentiability — The ability to be differentiated.
  • differential gear — differential (def 7).
  • differential line — (hardware)   A kind of electrical connection using two wires, one of which carries the normal signal (V) and the other carries an inverted version the signal (-V). A differential amplifier at the receiver subtracts the inverted signal from the normal signal to yield a signal proportional to V. This subtraction is intended to cancel out any noise induced in the wires, on the assmption that the same level of noise will have been induced in both wires. Twisted pair wiring is often used to try to ensure that this is the case. The two wires might be connected at the receiver to separate analogue to digital converters and the subtraction performed digitally. The RS-422 serial line standard specifies differential drivers and receivers, whereas the earlier RS-232 standard does not. Opposite: single ended.
  • differential rate — a special lower rate, as one charged by one of two or more competing businesses.
  • differential tone — a musical sound sometimes heard when two loud notes are sounded together, lower in pitch than either
  • dimethylformamide — a colourless liquid widely used as a solvent and sometimes as a catalyst. Formula: (CH3)2NCHO
  • double quatrefoil — a charge having the form of a foil with eight leaves, used especially as the cadency mark of a ninth son.
  • double refraction — the separation of a ray of light into two unequally refracted, plane-polarized rays of orthogonal polarizations, occurring in crystals in which the velocity of light rays is not the same in all directions.
  • drained of colour — colourless
  • dress-down friday — In some companies employees are allowed to wear clothes that are less smart than usual on a Friday. This day is known as a dress-down Friday.
  • drink like a fish — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
  • drool-proof paper — (jargon)   Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down, to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the "drool-proof paper syndrome" or to have been "written on drool-proof paper". For example, this is an actual quote from Apple Computer's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame."
  • due course of law — the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.
  • dwarf huckleberry — tangleberry.
  • east pacific rise — a long north-south elevation of the sea floor in the E Pacific Ocean extending southward from SW Mexico to the Antarctic Ocean.
  • east renfrewshire — a council area of W central Scotland, comprising part of the historical county of Renfrewshire; part of Strathclyde region from 1975 to 1996: chiefly agricultural and residential. Administrative centre: Giffnock. Pop: 89 680 (2003 est). Area: 173 sq km (67 sq miles)
  • edward fitzgerald — Edward, 1809–83, English poet: translator of drama and poetry, especially of Omar Khayyám.
  • electrical fitter — someone whose job is to fit electrical equipment
  • electrofiltration — Electrofiltration is a separation process in which an electric field is applied across a filter to improve separation.
  • electron affinity — a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to form a negative ion, expressed as the energy released when an electron is attached
  • empirical formula — a chemical formula indicating the proportion of each element present in a molecule
  • ends of the earth — remote regions
  • english breakfast — An English breakfast is a breakfast consisting of cooked food such as bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatoes. It also includes toast and tea or coffee.
  • exfoliating cream — a granular cosmetic preparation that removes dead cells from the skin's surface
  • factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
  • facts and figures — details; precise information
  • fade in (or out) — to appear or cause to appear (or disappear) gradually; make or become more (or less) distinct
  • faint-heartedness — lack of courage
  • fair market price — the price of something at which both a seller and a buyer are willing to strike a deal.
  • fair market value — The fair market value of an asset is what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for it on the open market.
  • fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
  • falkland islander — a person from the Falkland Islands
  • fall off the roof — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
  • fall on deaf ears — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
  • fall over oneself — to do everything within one's power
  • false bread-fruit — ceriman.
  • fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
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